[Fac-siinile  of  one  page  of  the  Book  of  Mac  Durnan,  exactly  as  it  left  the  hand  of  the 
Irish  scribe,  A.U.  850.  The  words,  which  are  much  contracted,  are  the  beginning  of  the 
Gospel  of  Saint  Mark,  in  Latin.  For  further  reference  to  this  frontispiece,  see  pp.  14,  493, 
494. — From  Westwood's /^ac.-Ji>«.  0/  Ang.-Sax.  and  Irish  MSS.'\ 


A     CONCISE 
HISTORY   OF    IRELAND 


ILLUSTRATED 


BY 

P.    W.    JOYCE,    LL.D. 

One  of  the  Cojnmissioners  for  the  PiMication  of  the  Ancient  Laws  of  Ireland 

Author  of 

"  a  social  history  of  ancient  ireland  " 

"a  short  history  of  ikhi.anl)  " 

"irish  names  of  places"    "old  celtic  romances.i" 

"ancient  irish  music" 

and  oiher  works  relaiing  to  ireland 


^^m^- 


Great  Tower,  Cloiiinaciioise.     From  I'etrie  s  "  Uoiind  Towers" 

NEW  YORK 
LONGiMANS,    GREEN,    AND    CO, 

1903 


Sculpture  over  a  doorway,  Cormac's  Chapel,  Cashel :  Centaur  shooting-  at  a  lion. 
From  Petrie's  "  Round  Towers,"  p.  296. 


PREFACE. 

In  writing  tliis  book  I  have  generally  followed  the  plan 
of  weaving  the  narrative  round  important  events  and 
leading  personages.  This  method,  while  in  no  degree  in- 
terfering with  the  continuity  of  the  History,  has  enabled 
me  to  divide  the  whole  book  into  short  chapters,  each 
forming  a  distinct  narrative  or  story  more  or  less  complete ; 
and  it  has  aided  me  in  my  endeavoiu*  to  make  the  History 
of  Ireland  interesting  and  attractive. 

Without  descending  to  childish  phraseology,  I  have 
done  my  best  to  make  the  language  so  simple  and  plain 
that  any  child  can  understand  it  who  is  able  to  read 
English  with  facility.  My  constant  aim  has  been  to  make 
the  book  easy  to  read  and  easy  to  understand. 

Above  all  I  have  tried  to  write  soberly  and  moderately, 
avoiding  exaggeration  and  bitterness,  pointing  out  extenu- 
ating circumstances  where  it  was  just  and  right  to  do 
so,  giving  credit  where  credit  is  due,  and  showing  fair 
play  all  round.     A  writers  nr^y  accomplish  all  this  while 

1^  -:i  t  o 


VI  PKEFACE. 

sympathising  heartily,  as  I  do,  with  Ireland  and  her  people. 
Perhaps  this  book,  written  as  it  is  in  such  a  broad  and  just 
spirit,  may  help  to  foster  mutual  feelings  of  respect  and 
toleration  among  Irish  people  of  different  parties,  and  may 
teach  them  to  love  and  admire  what  is  great  and  noble  in 
their  history,  no  matter  where  found.  This  indeed  was 
one  of  the  objects  I  kept  steadily  in  view  while  writing  it. 
When  a  young  citizen  of  Limerick  and  another  of  Derry 
read  the  account  given  here  of  the  two  memorable  sieges, 
I  hope  it  is  not  too  much  to  expect  that  the  reader  in  each 
case,  while  feeling  a  natui-al  pride  in  the  part  played  by 
his  own  ancestors,  will  be  moved  to  a  just  and  generous 
admiration  for  those  of  the  other  side  who  so  valiantly 
defended  their  homes.  And  the  Histoiy  of  Ireland,  though 
on  the  whole  a  very  sad  history,  abounds  in  records  of 
heroic  deeds  and  heroic  endurance,  like  those  of  DeiTy  and 
Limerick,  which  all  Irish  people  of  the  present  day  ought 
to  look  back  to  with  pride,  and  which  all  young  persons 
should  be  taught  to  reverence  and  admire. 

Though  the  book  has  been  written  for  children,  I  ven- 
ture to  express  a  hope  that  it  may  be  found  sufficiently 
interesting  and  instructive  for  the  perusal  of  older  people. 

The  Illustrations,  all  of  which  relate  to  the  several 
parts  of  the  text  where  they  occur,  and  all  of  which  have 
been  selected  with  gi-eat  care,  will  be  found,  I  trust,  to 
add  to  the  interest  of  the  book. 

1^0  effort  has  been  spared  to  secure  tinithfulness  and 
accuracy  of  statement ;  the  utmost  care  has  been  taken 
throughout  to  consult  and  compare  original  authorities ; 
and  nothing  has  been  accepted  on  second-hand  evidence. 


PEEKICE.  Vll 

It  may  not  be  unnecessary  to  say  that,  except  in  the 
few  places  where  I  quote,  the  narrative  all  through  this 
book  is  original,  and  not  made  up  by  adapting  or  copying 
the  texts  of  other  modern  Irish  Histories.  For  good  or 
for  bad  I  preferred  my  own  way  of  telling  the  story. 

P.  W.  J. 

Lyre-na-Grena,  Leinster-road, 
Rathmines,  Dublin, 

Xovember,  1897. 


It  gives  me  great  pleasure  to  acknowledge  the  courtesy 
of  those  to  whom  I  applied  for  permission  to  reproduce 
Illustrations  from  copyi'ight  books.*  My  thanks  are  espe- 
cially due  to  the  following  : — 

To  the  Council  of  the  Eoyal  Irish  Academy,  for  the  use 
of  electrotypes  of  Illustrations  in  Wilde's  "Catalogue  of 
Irish  Antiquities." 

To  the  Council  of  the  Koyal  Society  of  Antiquaries  of 
Ireland,  for  many  Illustrations  from  their  Journal. 

To  the  Cork  Historical  and  Archaeological  Society, 
thi'ough  their  Secretary,  Mr.  Denham  Franklin,  for  the 
use  of  some  Illustrations  in  their  Journal. 

To  the  Cambrian  Archaeological  Association,  thi'ough 
their  Secretaiy  the  Eev.  R.  Trevor  Owen,  for  the  pictui-e 
of  Dun  Aengus. 

*  Under  each  illustration  in  the  book  the  source  from  which  it  is 
</erived  is  mentioned. 


Vlll  PREFACE. 

To  the  Controller  of  Her  Majesty's  Stationery  Office, 
London,  for  the  use  of  many  Illustrations  from  "Fac- 
similes of  Irish  JN'ational  Manuscripts,"  by  Sir  John  T. 
Gilbert,  ll.d.,  f.s.a.  :  a  work  containing  a  great  amount 
of  original  infoiTnation  on  the  Histoiy  of  Ireland.  Before 
applying  to  the  Controller,  I  consulted  Sir  John  T.  Gilbert 
himself,  who  at  once  gave  his  consent. 

To  Miss  Margaret  Stokes,  for  many  Illustrations  fi'om 
her  two  valuable  and  beautiful  books,  "  Early  Christian 
Ai't  in  Ireland,"  and  "Early  Chiistian  Architecture  in 
Ireland."  I  had  Miss  Stokes's  pennission  also  to  apply  to 
the  Council  of  the  Royal  Society  of  Antiquaries  of  Ireland 
for  the  use  of  the  Illustrations  in  her  admirable  edition 
of  Dr.  Petrie's  "  Chidstian  Inscriptions  in  the  Irish  Lan- 
guage." 

To  Lord  Walter  Fitz  Gerald,  for  permission  to  use  the 
Illustrations  in  the  "  Joiu-nal  of  the  County  Kildare 
Ai'chaeological  Society." 

To  the  Eight  Hon.  The  0' Conor  Don,  who  lent  me  the 
brass  plate  engraved  from  the  original  portrait  of  Charles 
0' Conor  of  Bellanagar. 

To  Dr.  Richard  Garnet,  c.b.,  Keeper  of  Printed  Books 
in  the  British  Museum,  for  pennission  to  photograph  the 
engraving  of  Hugh  O'JSTeill. 

To  Colonel  "Wood-Martin,  for  some  of  the  excellent 
Illustrations  fi'om  his  book  on  "  Pagan  Ireland." 

To  Mr.  Bernard  Quaritch,  Publisher  and  Bookseller, 
London,  for  permission  to  copy  fi'om  Westwood's  magni- 
ficent work,  "  Fac-similes  of  Anglo-Saxon  and  Irish 
Manuscripts,"  the  Illuminated  page  from  the  Book  of 
Mac  Duman. 

To  Mr.  John  Murray,  Publisher,  London,  for  an  Illus- 
tration from  one  of  the  books  published  by  him. 


PREFACE.  IX 

To  Messrs.  A.  &  C.  Black,  for  the  use  of  the  Illustra- 
tions in  their  reprint  of  Derrick's  "  Image  of  Ireland." 

Mr.  W.  G.  Strickland,  Registrar,  JSTational  Gallery, 
Dublin,  was  ever  ready  to  help  me  in  my  search  for 
portraits,  and  obtained  for  me  permission  to  have  those 
I  wanted  photographed. 

Besides  the  above,  a  number  of  Illustrations  have  been 
taken  from  books  having  no  copyright,  and  others  have 
been  purchased  from  the  proprietors  of  copyright  works  : 
all  of  which  are  acknowledged  in  the  proper  places. 
Among  the  non-copyright  books  I  am  specially  indebted 
to  Dr.  Petrie's  great  work  on  the  Kound  Towers  of 
Ireland,  from  which  I  have  reproduced  many  of  the 
exquisite  engravings,  all  drawn  originally  by  Petrie 
himself  ;  and  lastly,  I  have  used  several  photographs, 
most  of  which  were  taken  for  me  by  a  friend,  who  went 
specially  to  the  places. 

Most  of  the  Ornamental  Capitals  at  the  beginnings  of 
tlie  Chapters  are  taken  from  a  very  ancient  Irish  manu- 
script called  the  "Book  of  Hymns":  but  some  few  nre 
from  other  old  Irish  books. 

It  would  be  an  injustice  if  I  failed  to  acknowledge  the 
skill  and  taste  with  which  the  Dublin  artist,  Mr.  A. 
McGoogan,  reproduced  the  beautiful  illuminated  page  of 
the  Book  of  Mac  Durnan,  with  all  its  delicate  outlines  and 
brilliant  colours :  the  same  artist  who  made  the  copy  of 
the  map  of  Ireland  that  illustrates  this  book,  from  my  own 
rudely-drawn  though  very  carefully-constructed  sketch. 


Sculpture  on  a  Column,  Church  of  the  Monasterj',  Glendalough. 
From  Petrie's  "  Round  Towers,"  260. 


CONTENTS. 


Chapter 

I.    THE   FACE  OF   THE    COUNTRY  IN   THE    OLDEN   TIME, 
II.    LITERATURE,    ART,   AND    MUSIC, 
III.    DWELLINGS,    FORTRESSES,   AND    TOMBS, 
IV.    FOOD,    DRESS,   AND    DAILY    LIFE, 
V.    IRISH    PAGANISM,  ...... 

VI.    GOVERNMENT  AND   LAW, 
VII.    THE   LEGENDS,     .,..,.. 
VIII.    THE   DAWN   OF   HISTORY,  ... 

IX.    ST.    PATRICK. PART    I.,        . 

X.    ST.    PATRICK. — PART   II., 

XI.    PROGRESS   OF  RELIGION,       ..... 
XII.    PROGRESS   OF  LEARNING, 

XIII.  FROM   LAEGAIRE   TO    THE    DANES, 

XIV.  THE   DANISH  WARS,  .  .  .  - 
XV.    THE   BATTLE    OF   CLONTARF. — PART    I., 

XVI.    THE    BATTLE   OF   CLONTARF. — PART   II.,    . 
XVII.    THE   EVE   OF  THE    INVASION,  .  .  .  . 

XVIII.    THE  ANGLO-NORMAN   INVASION, 
XIX.    THE  ANGLO-IRISH    LORDS,  .  .  .  ' 

XX.    JOHN   DE   COURCY,  ..... 


Page 

1 

8 

.  18 

25 
.  35 

40 
.  48 

57 
.  66 

70 
.    77 


95 
100 
107 
115 
120 
129 
138 
142 


Xn  CONTENTS. 

Chapter  Patre 

XXI.    TURMOIL, 148 

XXII.    EBWARD    BRUOE, .156 

XXIII.  THK    STATUTE    OF   KILKENNY,  .....    161 

XXIV.  ART    MACMURROGH    KAVANAGH,         .  .  .  .169 
XXV.    HOW  IRELAND  FARED  DURING  THE  WARS  OF  THE  ROSES,    177 

XXVI.    POYNINGS*    LAW, 184 

XXVII.    THE    GERALDINES, 191 

XXVIII.    THE   REBELLION   OF   SILKEN   THOMAS,         .  .  .  198 

XXIX.    SUBMISSION   OF  THE   CHIEFS, 206 

XXX.    NEW    CAUSES   OF   STRIFE, 209 

XXXI.    THE    REBELLION   OF   SHANE    o'nEILL,    ....    214 
XXXII.    THE    GERALDINE    REBELLION,  .  .  .  .219 

XXXIII.  THE   PLANTATIONS, 227 

XXXIV.  HUGH  ROE  o'donnell, 232 

XXXV.    THE    REBELLION    OF   HUGH    o'nEILL,      ....    240 
XXXVI.    THE    BATTLE   OF   THE   YELLOW   FORD,  .  .  .  245 

XXXVII.    THE    EARL   OF   ESSEX, 251 

XXXVIII.    THE   TURN   OF   THE   TIDE. — BATTLE   OF  KINSALE,         .  256 

XXXIX.    THE    SIEGE   OF   DUNBOY, 262 

XL.    THE    RETREAT   OF    O'SULLIVAN    BEARE,       .  .  .  266 

XLI.    THE    FLIGHT   OF   THE    EARLS,  .....    273 

XLII.    THE   PLANTATION   OF  ULSTER,  ....  279 

XLIII.    STRAFFORD, 284 

XLIV.    THE    REBELLION    OF    1641, 287 

XLV.    THE    CONFEDERATION    OF    KILKENNY  :     THE    BATTLE    OF 

BENBURB, 293 

XLVI.    OLIVER  CROMWELL, 303 

XL VII.    IRELAND   AFTER   THE    RESTORATION,  .  .  .311 

XLVIII.    THE   SIEGE  OF  DERRY. — PART  I.,  .  .  .  .    317 

XLIX.    THE    SIEGE   OF   DERRY. PART   II.,    .  .  .  .  326 

L.    THE    BATTLE   OF  THE    BOYNE, 339 

LI.    THE     SIEGE    OF    LIMERICK. — PART    I.        SARSFIELD    AND 

THE    SIEGE   TRAIN, 347 

LII.    THE    SIEGE   OF   LIMERICK. PART    II.,  .  .  .    354 

LIII.    ATHLONE  AND  AUGHRIM, 365 


CONTENTS.  Xlll 

Chapter  Page 

LIV.    THE    SECOND    SIEGE   AND    TREATY  OF  LIMERICK,    .  .    375 

LV.    THE    PENAL   LAWS,  .  ....  382 

LVI.    LAWS   TO   REPRESS  IRISH  TRADE  AND  MANUFACTURE,     .    394 

LVII.    THE    BEGINNING  OF  THE   PARLIAMENTARY   STRUGGLE,       400 

LVIII.    DISCONTENT  AND   DANGER, 408 

LIX.    THE   TOLUNTEERS, 41? 

LX.    LEGISLATIVE   INDEPENDENCE, 426 

LXI.    GRATTAn's   PARLIAMENT, 434 

lxii.  revival  of  secret  societies,  ....  440 

lxiii,  catholic  progress  towards  emancipation,         .       446 

lxiv.  catholic  disappointment, 450 

lxv.  towards  the  brink  of  the  precipice,       .        -       456 

lxvi.  the  rebellion  of  1798, 462 

lxvii.  the  union,  .......       472 

lxviii.  catholic  emancipation,  .....  478 

lxix.  from  emancipation  to  the  death  of  o'connell,      486 
description  of  frontispiece,     .         .         .         .494 

Index, 495 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


PAGE 

Page  of  the  Book  of 
MacDurnan,   .        .    frontispteee. 

Great   Round  Tower, 

Clonraacnoise,      .        title  page. 

Sculpture  over  a  doorwa}',  Cor- 

mac's  Chapel, 
Map  of  Ireland,  . 

V 

I 

A  Fibula,  solid  gold. 
Skeleton  of  great  Irish  Elk, 
Ancient  Irish  Bronze  Vessel, 

3 
5 
7 

Ornament  from  Book  of  Kells, 

8 

The  Ardagh  Chalice, 
The  Tara  Brooch, 

14 
X5 

Ancient  Ornamented  Brooch, 

i6 

Ancient    Ornamental    Patterns 

engraved  on  bone,    . 
Irish  Piper, 
The  great "  Moat  of  Kilfinnane, 

i6 
i8 

"       20 

StaigueFort, 
Cinerary  Urn,      .        , 
Cromlech  at  Tawnatruffaun, 

21 
23 
23 

Burial  Mound  on  the  Boyne, 

24 

Ornament  from  Book  of  Kells, 

25 

The  "  Kavanagh  Horn,"    . 

26 

Mether 

26 

Ancient  Bronze  Caldron,  . 

27 

Quern,           .... 

28 

Ancient  Irish  Ornamented  Shoe 

J,       30 

Ancient  Irish  Ornamental  Com 

3,      30 

Gold  Torque, 
Bone  Chessman, 

31     I 
32 

Ancient  Irish  Chariots, 

34 

Group  on  Book- cover  of  Bone, 

35 

Specimen  of  Irish,  a.d.  iioo, 

39 

Irish  Kings  and  Archers,  . 

Galloglass, 

Horse   Soldier    with    attendant 

and  horseboy,  .... 
Dun-Aengus,       .... 
Cromlech  on  Moytirra, 
Supposed  Dedannan  and  Firbolg 

Spear-heads,    .... 
Forra  Mound  at  Tara, 
Inish-Samer  near  Ballyshannon, 
Aill-na-meeran,   the    Stone   of 

the  Divisions,  at  Ushnagh, 
Dinnree,  the  most  ancient  resi- 
dence of  the  kings  of  Leinster, 
King  Dathi's  Grave,  . 
Ornament  from  Book  of  Kells, 
St.  Erc's  Hermitage, 
Slane  Monastery, 
North  Moat,  Naas  :  remains  of 

ancient  palace, 
Ornament  from  Book  of  Kells, 
Church   called   "  St.   Columb's 

House  "  at  Kells,  . 
Inishcaltra,  or  Holy  Island, 
St.  MacDara's  primitive  church. 
Round  Tower,  Devenish  Island, 
Scribe  writing  Book  of  Kildare, 
Church   and   Round   Tower  of 

Dysert-Aengus, 
Ancient  Baptismal  Font  of  Clon- 

ard, 

Two  ancient  Irish  Alphabets,  . 
Ornament  from  Book  of  Kells,  . 
Foot  and  Horse  Soldiers,  . 


AGE 

42 

45 

48 
51 
52 

53 
56 
57 

58 

59 
64 
66 

71 
72 

75 
77 

79 
81 
83 
84 
87 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


XV 


Clonmacnoise  in  1825, 
Plan  of  Battle  of  Clontarf, 
Shrine  of  Bell  of  St.  Patrick, 
Church  at  Killaloe,     . 
Rockof  Cashel,  . 
The  Cross  of  Cong,     . 
Dominican  Abbej-,  Kilmallock, 
Two  Galloglasses, 
Sculpture  on  a  Capital, 
Dermot  Mac  Murrogh, 
Mellifont  Abbey  in  1791,     . 
Augustinian  Monastery,  Ferns, 
Reginald's  Tower,  Waterford, 
Figure  in  MS.,  Girald.  Cambr 
Sculpture  on  Window, 
Monument  of   Strongbow    and 

his  wife  Eva,    . 
Dundrum  Castle,  Co.  Down, 
Trim  Castle, 

Tomb  of  King  Felim  O'Conor, 
Two  Galloglasses, 
Ornament  on  leather    case    of 

Book  of  Armagh  ,     . 
Carrickfergus  Castle  in  1840, 
Richard    II.    knighting    young 

Henry  of  Lancaster, 
Ships  relie\'ingRich.  II. 's  army 
Meeting  of  MacMurrogh  Kava 

nagh  and  Gloucester, 
"  The  Colledge,"  Youghal, 
Carbury  Castle,  Co.  Kildare, 
Sculpture  on  a  Capital, 
Carlow  Castle  in  1845, 
Group  of  Irish  soldiers  and  pea 

sants,  by  Durer  (a.d.  1521), 
Sculpture  on  Window, 
Signature  of  Gerald  gth  Earl  o 

Kildare,    .... 
Sculpture  on  Chancel  Arch, 
Maynooth  Castle  at  present. 
Signature  of  Silken  Thomas, 


122 
123 
124 
126 
127 
129 
130 
131 
132 
134 
137 
138 

141 
143 
146 
153 
155 

156 
158 

172 

174 


184 

187 

190 
191 

197 
198 


PAGE 

Early  Irish  Ornamentation,        .  206 

Sculpture  on  a  Column,     .        .  214 

Signature  of  Shane  O'Neill,  .  216 
Signature  of  Garrett  FitzGerald, 

earl  of  Desmond  (a.d.  1574),  •  221 

Glenmalure,  Co.  Wicklow,        .  224 

Sculpture  on  a  Capital,  .  .  227 
Sir    Walter   Raleigh's    House, 

Youghal, 230 

Kilcolman  Castle,  Co.  Cork,     .  231 

Ornament,  with  Inscription,      .  232 

Castlekevin  (and  Glendalough),  235 
Ornament   on   top  of  Devenish 

Round  Tower,          .        .        .  240 

Enniskillen  Castle  about  1600,  .  242 
Plan  of  the  Battle  of  the  Yellow 

Ford,         .        .        .        .         .248 

Caher  Castle  in  1845, .         .         .  252 

Meeting  of  Essex  and  O'Neill,  .  254 

Portion  of  a  Bell-shrine,  .  .  256 
Signature  of  Hugh  O'Neill,  earl 

of  Tyrone,  ....  258 
Kinsale  Harbour,  .  .  .  258 
Red  Hugh  O'Donnell's  signa- 
ture (in  Irish),  ....  261 
Bearhaven  and  Dunboy  Castle 

in  1845, 263 

Carriganass  Castle,  Co.  Cork,  .  267 

Donall  O'Sullivan  Beare,  .        .  271 

Signature  of  O'Sullivan  Beare,  272 

Hugh  O'Neill,  earl  of  Tyrone,  .  276 
Groups  showing  costumes,  a.d, 

1600,  .        .        .        .         .278 

Settlers'  Houses,  Ulster  {1622),  282 

Charlemont  Fort,  .  .  .  289 
Owen  Roe  O'Neill,     .         .        .295 

Plan  of  Battle  of  Benburb,  .  299 
Signet  and  Signature  of  Owen 

Roe  O'Neill,  .  .  .  .305 
St.  John's  Gate,  Limerick,  as 

at  present,         ....  307 

Ornament  from  Book  of  Kells, .  311 


XV 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Plan  of  Derry  and  its  neighbour- 
hood during  the  siege  (1689),  . 
A  Coin  of  James's  base  money, 
View  of  Derry  in  1840, 
Bishop's  Gate,  Derry, 
Walker's  Monument,  Derry,  in 


318 
325 
327 
328 

338 
339 


The  Duke  of  Schomberg,  . 
View  of  the  Boyne,  near  Old- 
bridge 340 

Plan  of  the  Battle  of  the  Boyne,  343 
Schomberg's  Monument  on  the 

Boyne, 346 

Thomond  Bridge   in  1681,  with 
King   John's  Castle  and  the 
Cathedral,        ....     349 
Patrick  Sarsfield,        .        .        .    351 
Sarsfield's  Rock  at  Ballyneety,      353 
King  John's  Castle,  Limerick, 

in  1845, 356 

Plan  of  Limerick    during    the 

siege, 359 

Castle  of  Athlone  in  1845,  .  .  368 
Plan  of  Battle  of  Aughrim,  .  372 
General  Ginkle,  .        .        .     374 

Thomond  Bridge  in  1840,  .        .     376 


PAGE 

Treaty  Stone,  Limerick,  .  .  378 
Medal  struck  to  commemorate 

the  surrender  of  Limerick,      .  379 

Sarsfield's  Ring,          .         .        .  380 

Jonathan  Swift,  ....  405 

Charles  O'Conor  of  Bellanagar,  407 

Henry  Flood 413 

Edmund  Burke,  ....  418 

Lord  Charlemont,       .        .        .  422 

A  Dublin  Volunteer,  .        .        .  425 

Grattan, 427 

Dungannon  Meeting- House  at 

time  of  Convention,  .  .  430 
Grattan 's  House  at  Tinnehinch 

in  1824, 433 

Maynooth  College  in  1820,        .  455 

Vinegar  Hill,  near  Enniscorthy,  462 

John  Philpot  Curran,          .        .  471 

Parliament  House,  Dublin,        .  476 

Richard  Lalor  Sheil,  .         .        .  481 

Thomas  Moore,  ....  485 
Daniel  O'Connell,  .  .  .489 
The  O'Connell  Monument,  Glas- 

nevin, 492 

Outlines  of  Frontispiece,    .        .  493 


•si?  If -a   g-jf 


A  CHILD'S  History  of  Ireland. 


CHAPTER  I. 


THE  FACE  OF  THE  COTJNTEY  IN  THE  OLDEN  TIME. 


OEDEE  that  the  Story  of  Ireland,  as  set 
forth  in  this  book,  may  be  clearly  un- 
derstood, it  is  necessary,  at  the  outset, 
to  describe  how  the  country  looked  in 
early  ages,  and  to  give  some  infonna- 
tion  about  the  daily  life  of  the  people. 
This  will  be  done  in  the  first  six  chap- 
ters. The  state  of  things  pictui-ed  here 
existed  in  Ireland  from  a  penod  beyond  the  reach  of 
history  down  to  about  three  hundi*ed  years  ago,  and 
partially  much  later :  but  with  many  changes  from 
time  to  time  during  the  long  interval. 

In  old  times  the  appearance  of  Ireland  was  very 
different  from  what  it  is  at  present.  The  country 
was  everywhere  covered  with  vast  forests ;  and  the 
hillsides,  now  generally  so  bare,  were  then  clothed  with 
woods  looking  down  on  the  pleasant  valleys  beneath. 
There  were  gi^eat  and  dangerous  marshes,  quagmires, 
and  bogs,  covered  with  reeds,  moss,  and  grass.     But 


2  A  child's  HISTOKY  OF  IHKLAND.  [cilAP.  I. 

though  bogs  existed  from  the  beginning,  many  districts 
where  we  now  find  them  lying  broad  and  deep  were 
once  forest  land ;  and  the  bog  grew  after  the  surface 
had  in  some  manner  become  bare  of  trees.  Buried 
down  at  a  depth  of  many  feet  in  some  of  our  present 
bogs,  great  tree  trunks  are  often  found,  the  relics  of 
the  primeval  forest. 

In  those  days,  as  the  land  of  the  country  was  so 
much  encumbered  with  trees,  it  was  justly  regarded  as 
a  praiseworthy  deed  to  help  to  clear  spaces  for  tillage  ; 
and  accordingly  the  Annals  often  record  the  clearing  of 
certain  plains  by  ancient  kings.  This  work  of  dealing 
for  tillage  always  went  on ;  but  in  later  times  the 
forests  were  cut  down  quickly  enough  for  another  pur- 
pose, to  supply  fuel  for  smelting  iron,  which  was  a 
common  industry  in  Ireland  three  or  foiu-  hundred 
years  ago.  Besides  all  this,  there  was  a  regular  export 
trade  in  Irish  oak  ;  and  we  know  that  a  king  of  Ireland, 
Murkertagh  O'Brien,  presented  William  Hufus  with  a 
number  of  great  oak  trees  cut  down  in  a  spot  now 
covered  by  a  part  of  Dublin  city,  with  which  West- 
minster Hall  was  roofed.  From  all  these  causes  com- 
bined the  great  forests  of  Ireland  were  gradually  cleared 
off  and  finally  disappeared  about  two  centuries  ago. 

At  intervals  through  the  country  there  were  open 
grassy  plains,  but  they  were  everywhere  sun-ounded 
by  forest  land,  and  broken  up  and  dotted  over  with 
clumps  of  trees  and  brushwood. 

The  same  sparkling  streamlets  without  number  that 
still  delight  us  tumbled  down  from  the  uplands ;  and 
there  too  were  the  same  stately  rivers  and  resounding 
waterfalls.  But  the  streams  and  rivers  were  under 
little  or  no  restraint :  they  were  not  artificially  banked 
in  and  confined,  as  in  many  places  they  are  now ;  and 


CHAP.  I.]         THE  C0X7NTEY  IN  THE  OLDEN  TIME. 


3 


in  times  of  flood  they  broke  through  their  banks,  over- 
flowed the  flat  lands,  made  new  beds  for  themselves, 
and  altogether  did  very  much  as  they  pleased.  In 
many  of  the  rivers  the  pearl  mussel  was  found,  so  that 
Ireland  was  well  known  for  producing  pearls,  unusually 
large  and  of  very  fine  quality ;  and  in  some  of  these 
same  rivers  pearls  are  still  found. ''^ 

There  were  the  same  broad  lakes,  like  inland  seas, 
that  we  see  at  the  present  day ;  but  they  were  gene- 
rally larger,  and  were  surrounded  with  miles  of  reedy 
morasses. 

Minerals  there  were  too,  which,  though  not  nearly 
so  abundant  as  in  the  neighbouring  island  of  Great 
Britain,  were  yet  in  sufficient  quantity  to  give  rise  to 
many  industries.  That  the  mines  were  worked  we 
know,   partly  from  oui^  historical  records,  and  partly 


Solid  gold  article  (often  called  a.Jib}tla)  found  in  Ireland,  now  in  Trinity 
College  Museum,  Dublin.  Z%  inches  long  ;  weight  33  oz.  From  Wilde's 
Catalogue.      Gold  articles  this  shape  very  numerous  in  National  Museum. 

from  the  Brehon  Laws,  which  lay  down  many  regula- 
tions regarding  them.  The  remains  of  ancient  mines, 
of  copper,  coal,  and  other  minerals,  with  many  rude 
antique  mining  tools,  have  been  found  in  recent  times 


*  See  tliis  subject  of  Irish  pearls   discussed  in  my 
Names  of  Places,"  Vol.  II.,  p.  375. 

?2 


Irish 


4  A  creTLD*s  history  of  iheland.        [chap.  I. 

in  some  parts  of  Ireland.  Chief  among  the  metals 
were  gold,  iron,  and  copper.  From  the  very  earliest 
times  gold  has  been  smelted — or  "boiled"  as  the  old 
Irish  records  express  it :  and  that  it  was  obtained  in 
considerable  quantities  is  proved  by  the  great  number 
of  gold  ornaments  found  from  time  to  time  bui^ied  in 
the  ground,  and  now  preserved  in  oiu'  museums.  The 
chief  gold  district  lay  east  oi  the  river  Liffey  in  the 
present  county  Wicklow,  where  gold  is  found  to  this 
day. 

Wild  animals  abounded  everywhere.  Packs  of  foxes 
and  savage  dogs  scoured  the  country  at  night,  howling 
and  yelping  for  prey.  Otters  were  in  great  plenty  near 
rivers  and  lakes,  so  that  in  later  times  their  skins 
formed  an  important  article  of  commerce;  and  so  re- 
cently as  the  beginning  of  the  fifteenth  century  rents 
were  sometimes  paid  in  otter  skins.  Wolves  lui^ked  in 
glens  and  coverts,  and  at  last  became  so  numerous  and 
dangerous  that  the  people  kept  a  special  breed  of  dogs 
to  hunt  them  down,  Irish  wolf-dogs — gi-eat,  fierce, 
shaggy  animals — one  of  them  quite  a  match  for  a  wolf. 
These  dogs  were  celebrated  all  over  Europe,  so  that 
they  were  often  sent  as  presents  to  Continental  sove- 
reigns, and  were  sometimes  exhibited  at  the  Eoman 
games,  to  the  great  astonishment  of  the  people,  who 
had  never  before  seen  such  large  dogs.  They  have  only 
very  recently  become  extinct ;  and  their  savage  anta- 
gonists, the  wolves,  were  finally  exterminated  about 
two  centui'ies  ago.  There  were  plenty  of  wild  cats, 
large  wicked  rough  looking  creatures,  very  strong  and 
very  dangerous  ;  and  the  race  is  not  yet  quite  extinct, 
for  wild  cats,  nearly  twice  the  size  of  our  domestic  ani- 
mals, are  still  found  in  some  solitaiy  places.  Droves  of 
swine  roamed  through  the  forests  feeding  on  acorns  and 


CHAP.  I.]        THE  COUNTRY  IN  THE  OLDEN  TIME. 


beeclmiast.  In  the  neighbourhood  of  the  inhabited 
districts  these  were  domestic  animals,  owned  by  rich 
people  and  tended  by  swineherds :  but  in  remote  parts 
there  were  plenty  of  wild  hogs.  We  know  that  in 
the  olden  time  hunting  the  wild  boar  was  a  favoui-ite 
amusement,  though  a  very  dangerous  one,  for  the  old 
Irish  boar  had  fonnidable  tusks  and  knew  well  how  to 
use  them.  The  open  pastui-e  lands  were  grazed  by 
herds  of  cows,  sheep,  and  goats,  which  at  a  very  ancient 
period  were  all  wild ;  but  the  domesticated  animals 
gradually  took  their  place  as  the  population  increased 
and  extended. 

Then  lived  the  Irish  elk,  a  gigantic  deer  with 
great  branching  solid  antlers,  compared  with  which  the 
largest  of  our  present 
deer  are  mere  dwarfs. 
We  shall  never  see 
such  deer  alive  again,  ^ 
though  we  often  find 
their  bones  buried 
deep  down  in  clay: 
in  one  place  not  far 
from  Dublin,  the  re- 
mains of  a  whole  herd 
of  more  than  a  hun- 
dred were  dug  up 
some  years  ago  from 
beneath  a  bog.  Com- 
plete skeletons  are 
preserved  in  Dublin, 

with  antlers  standing  twice  the  height  of  a  man  and 
twelve  feet  across  from  tip  to  tip.  Great  herds  of  these 
stately  creatures  roamed  over  the  plains  or  crashed 
their  way  through  brake  and  forest,  tossing  proudly 


Skeleton  of  Elk  in  National  Museum,  Dublin. 
From  plate  of  Royal  Dublin  Society.  Human  skele- 
ton put  in  for  comparison. 


6  A  child's  history  of  iheland.         [cuap.  1. 

their  mighty  antlers.  We  know  that  bears  were  there 
too,  for  we  still  find  their  bones  in  caverns.  Although 
both  elks  and  bears  became  extinct  very  early,  we  have 
good  reason  to  believe  that  they  continued  to  live  in 
the  country  for  some  time  after  its  occupation  by  man. 

Myriads  of  noisy  sea-fowl  circled  and  screamed  and 
fished  all  round  the  coasts  and  swarmed  on  the  cliffs, 
among  them  the  strong  and  graceful  sea-eagle  ;  for  the 
sea,  as  well  as  the  lakes  and  rivers,  teemed  with  fish. 
Vast  flocks  of  cranes,  wild  geese,  wild  swans,  and 
other  fowl  tenanted  the  lakes  and  marshes  ;  the  woods 
were  alive  with  bii'ds  of  various  kinds ;  and  hawks, 
kites,  and  golden  eagles  skimmed  over  the  plains  peer- 
ing down  for  prey.  The  goshawks,  or  falcons,  used 
in  the  old  game  of  hawking,  were  found  in  gi^eat  abun- 
dance ;  and  those  of  Ulster  were  reckoned  the  best  in 
the  world;  so  that,  like  wolf-dogs,  they  were  valued 
everywhere  on  the  Continent,  and  were  often  sent  as 
presents  to  kings.  The  country,  from  the  earliest 
times,  was  noted  for  its  abundance  of  honey,  for  bees, 
both  wild  and  domestic,  swaiTaed  everywhere.  But 
there  were  no  snakes  or  toads.  We  have  now  plenty  of 
frogs ;  but  the  fii'st  ever  seen  in  Ireland,  of  which  there 
is  any  record,  was  found  near  Waterford  towards  the 
close  of  the  twelfth  century.  As  the  population  of  the 
countiy  increased,  the  cultivated  land  increased  in  pro- 
portion. But  until  a  late  time,  there  were  few  in- 
habited districts  that  were  not  within  view,  or  within 
easy  reach,  of  unreclaimed  waste  lands — forest,  or  bog, 
or  moorland  :  so  that  the  people  had  much  ado  to  pro- 
tect their  crops  and  flocks  from  the  inroads  of  wild 
animals. 

All  round  near  the  coast  ran,  then  as  now,  the  prin- 
cipal mountain  ranges,  with  a  great  plain  in  the  middle. 


CHAP.  I.]         THE  COUNTRY  IN  THE  OLDEN  TIME.  7 

The  air  was  soft  and  moist,  perhaps  even  more  moist 
than  at  present,  on  account  of  the  great  extent  of 
forest.  The  cleared  land  was  exceedingly  fertile,  and 
was  well  watered  with  springs,  streamlets,  and  rivers, 
not  only  among  the  mountainous  districts,  but  all  over 
the  central  plain.  Pasture  lands  were  luxui'iant  and 
evergreen,  inviting  flocks  and  herds  without  limit. 
Some  of  the  pleasing  features  of  the  country  have  been 
well  pictured  by  Denis  Florence  McCarthy  in  his  pcem 
of  ''The  Bell  Founder":— 

"  O  Erin  !  thou  broad-spreading  valley*,  thou  well-watered  land  of  fresh 
streams, 

When  I  gaze  on  thy  hills  greenly  sloping,  where  the  light  of  such  love- 
liness beams, 

When  I  rest  on  the  rim  of  thy  fountains,  or  stray  where  thy  streams 
disembogue, 

Then  I  think  that  the  fairies  have  brought  me  to  dwell  in  the  bright 
Tirnanogue." 

From  the  foregoing  sketch  it  will  be  seen  that 
Ireland,  so  far  as  it  was  brought  under  cultivation 
and  pasture  in  those  early  days,  was — as  the  Yenerable 
Bede  calls  it — a  land  flowing  with  milk  and  honey,  a 
pleasant,  healthful,  and  fruitful  land,  well  fitted  to 
maintain  a  prosperous  and  contented  people. 


Ancient  Irish  Bronze  \'essel  in  National  Museum,  Dublin. 
From  Wilde's  Catalogue. 


*  "  Broad -spreading  valley":   because  it  is  generally  tiat  in 
the  middle,  with  mountains  all  round. 


iiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiijiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii»^ 

Composed  from  the  Book  of  Kells. 


CHAPTER  II. 


LITERATURE,  ART,   AND  MUSIC. 

EARNING  of  all  kinds  was  held  in  great  esti- 
mation by  the  ancient  Irish,  especially 
History,  Poetry,  and  Romantic  Tales. 
Most  of  their  lore  was  written  down  in 
books ;  for  after  the  time  of  St.  Patrick 
everything  that  was  considered  worthy 
of  being  preserved  was  committed  to 
writing,  so  that  manuscripts  gradually 
accumulated  all  through  the  country. 
But  in  the  dark  time  of  the  Danish  ravages,  and  during 
the  troubled  centuries  that  followed  the  Anglo-JN'onnan 
invasion,  the  manuscript  collections  were  gi'adually 
dispersed,  and  a  large  proportion  lost  or  destroyed.  Yet 
we  have  remaining — rescued  from  the  general  wreck — 
a  great  body  of  manuscript  literature.  The  two  most 
important  collections  are  those  in  Trinity  College  and 
in  the  Royal  Irish  Academy,  Dublin,  where  there  are 
manuscripts  of  various  ages,  from  the  sixth  down  to 
the  present  century.  There  are  also  many  important 
Irish  manuscripts  in  the  British  Museum  in  London, 
and  in  the  Bodleian  Library  at  Oxford.  Great  num- 
bers, too,  are  preserved  in  Continental  libraries,  where 
they  were  written,  or  to  which  they  were  brought  from 
Ireland,  by  those  Irish  missionaries  who  frequented  the 
Continent  in  early  ages. 


CHAP.  II.]  LITEKATURE,  ART,  AND  MUSIC.  9 

A  favourite  occupation  of  some  of  the  monks  of  old 
was  copying  the  Gospels  or  other  portions  of  the  Holy 
Scriptures,  always  in  Latin,  for  the  use  of  the  inmates 
of  monasteries  or  of  other  persons  who  could  read  and 
understand  the  language  :  and  many  devoted  their 
whole  lives  to  this  good  work.  Books  of  this  kind  are 
the  oldest,  as  well  as  the  most  beautiful,  we  possess, 
many  having  been  written  fi'om  the  sixth  to  the  ninth 
centuiy ;  and  nearly  all  of  them  are  richly  ornamented 
and  illuminated.  Por  those  accomplished  and  devoted 
old  scribes  thought  no  trouble  too  gi^eat  to  beautify  the 
sacred  writings.  Some  books  of  this  kind  are  described 
at  pages  13  and  14. 

Before  the  invention  of  printing  it  was  customary  in 
Ireland  for  individuals,  or  families,  or  religious  com- 
munities, to  keep  large  manuscript  books  of  miscella- 
neous literature.  In  these  were  written  such  literary 
pieces  as  were  considered  worthy  of  being  preseiwed  in 
wi'iting — tales,  poems,  biographies,  histories,  annals, 
and  so  forth — all  mixed  up  in  one  volume,  and  almost 
always  copied  from  older  books.  In  those  days  books, 
being  all  wi'itten  by  hand  on  vellum — a  very  expensive 
material — were  scarce  and  dear.  The  only  places  where 
they  were  to  be  found  were  the  libraries  in  monasteries, 
and  in  the  houses  of  kings  or  chiefs,  or  of  some  learned 
men ;  and  the  value  set  on  them  may  be  estimated 
fi'om  the  fact  that  one  of  them  was  sometimes  accepted 
as  ransom  for  a  captive  chief. 

The  oldest  of  all  these  books  of  miscellaneous  litera- 
ture is  the  Book  of  the  Dun  Cow,  now  in  the  Royal 
Irish  Academy,  Dublin.  It  was  written — copied  from 
older  books — by  Mailmuny  Mac  Kelleher,  a  learned 
scribe,  who  died  in  Clonmacnoise  in  the  year  1106. 
As  it  now  stands  it  consists  of  only  134  large  vellum 


10  A  child's  history  of  IRELAND.  [cHAP.  li. 

pages,  a  mere  fragment  of  the  original  work.  It  con- 
tains sixty-five  pieces  of  various  kinds,  several  of  which 
are  imperfect  on  account  of  missing  leaves.  There  are 
a  number  of  romantic  tales  in  prose ;  and,  besides  other 
important  pieces,  a  copy  of  the  celebrated  Amra  or 
Elegy  on  St.  Columkille,  composed  about  the  year  592, 
which  no  one  can  yet  wholly  understand,  the  language 
is  so  ancient  and  difficult.  A  specimen  of  this  book 
will  be  found  at  page  39,  farther  on. 

The  Book  of  Leinster,  which  is  kept  in  the  libraiy 
of  Trinity  College,  Dublin,  is  the  largest,  though  not 
the  oldest,  of  all  the  ancient  Irish  manuscript  volumes. 
It  is  an  immense  book  of  410  vellum  pages,  written  in 
or  about  the  year  1160,  containing  nearly  one  thousand 
pieces  of  various  kinds,  some  in  prose,  some  in  poetry, 
nearly  all  about  Irish  affairs.  There  are  historical 
narratives,  stories  and  descriptions  of  places  in  various 
parts  of  the  country,  genealogies  of  families,  and  ro- 
mantic tales  belonging  to  the  old  times  of  legend  and 
tradition.  Other  old  books  are  the  Speckled  Book  of 
Mac  Egan,  almost  as  large  as  the  Eook  of  Leinster, 
consisting  chiefly  of  religious  pieces,  the  Book  of  Bally- 
mote,  the  Book  of  Lecan  [Leckan],  and  the  Yellow 
Book  of  Lecan,  which  are  all  in  Dublin,  and  contain  a 
vast  amount  of  ancient  Irish  lore.  Much  of  the  con- 
tents of  these  books  has  been  published  and  translated : 
but  by  far  the  greatest  part  still  remains  locked  up  in 
the  Irish  language,  waiting  to  be  dealt  with  by  the 
loving  labour  of  Irish  scholars. 

The  Irish  chroniclers  were  very  careful  to  record  in 
their  Annals  remarkable  occuiTences  of  their  own  time, 
or  past  events  as  handed  down  to  them  by  former 
chroniclers.  The  Annals  are  among  the  most  impor- 
tant of  the  ancient  manuscript  wi'itings  for  the  study 


CHAP.  II.]  LITERATURE,  ART,  AND  MUSIC.  11 

of  Irish  history.  The  most  extensive  and  valuable  of 
all  are  the  Annals  of  the  Four  Masters.  They  were 
compiled  in  the  Franciscan  Monastery  of  Donegal,  from 
older  authorities,  by  three  of  the  O'Cleiys,  a  learned 
family  of  laymen,  hereditary  ollaves  or  professors  of 
history  to  the  O'Donnells  of  Tirconnell,  and  by  a  fourth 
scholar  named  O'Mulconry.  These  are  now  commonly 
known  as  the  "  Tour  Masters."  They  began  the  work 
in  1632  and  completed  it  in  1636.  "The  Annals  of 
the  Four  Masters"  was  translated,  with  most  elaborate 
and  learned  annotations,  by  Dr.  John  O'Donovan ;  and 
it  was  published  in  IjoI,  Irish  text,  translation,  and 
notes,  in  seven  large  volumes. 

We  have  also  preserved  a  vast  body  of  medical 
manuscripts,  which  originated  in  the  following  manner. 
There  were  professional  physicians  or  leeches  in  Ire- 
land from  the  very  beginning  of  society,  who,  like  the 
Brehons  (p.  47),  had  to  undergo  a  long  coui'se  of  train- 
ing, and  like  them  kept  books  for  reference,  some  in 
Irish  and  some  in  Latin.  In  Ireland,  the  professions, 
as  for  instance  those  of  History,  Poetry,  Law,  &c., 
commonly  ran  in  families  :  and  many  Irish  families 
were  distinguished  physicians  for  generations,  such  as 
the  O'Shiels,  the  O'Cassidys,  the  O'Hickeys,  and  the 
O'Lees,  of  whom  the  fame  of  some  had  reached  the  Con- 
tinent. Each  family  kept  a  medical  book,  the  collected 
experience  and  wisdom  of  ages,  which  was  handed 
down  reverently  from  father  to  son.  A  vast  number  of 
these  books  are  preserved  in  libraries ;  and  there  are 
probably  more  old  medical  manuscripts  in  existence 
written  by  Irish  doctors  than  there  are  belonging  to 
any  other  country.  Kings  and  chiefs  kept  physicians 
attached  to  their  households,  many  of  whom,  in  the 
service  of  the  great  kings,  had  for  remuneration  castles 


12  A  child's  history  of  IllELAND.  [CHAP.  It. 

and  estates,  and  lived  like  princes.  Those  not  so 
attached  subsisted  on  their  fees,  like  most  doctors  of 
the  present  day.  There  were  hospitals  even  in  pagan 
times.  In  later  ages  most  of  them  were  in  connexion 
with  monasteries :  but  some  were  secular,  and  came 
under  the  lirehon  Law,  which  laid  down  regulations 
for  them,  especially  as  regarded  cleanliness  and  ventila- 
tion. The  poor  were  received  free  in  all  hospitals,  but 
those  who  could  afford  it  were  expected  to  pay  for 
food,  medicine,  and  the  attendance  of  the  doctor. 

Of  all  our  manuscript  remains  Romantic  Literature 
is  the  most  abundant.  It  consists  of  stories,  some  very 
long,  some  short,  chiefly  in  prose,  but  often  mixed  up 
with  poetry,  nearly  all  of  them  about  Irish  historical 
personages,  or  founded  on  Irish  historical  events.  A 
large  proportion  have  reference  to  the  two  great  heroic 
cycles  mentioned  in  chapters  vii.  and  viii. — that  of 
the  Red  Branch  ELnights  in  the  fii'st  centuiy,  and  that 
of  the  Fena  of  Erin  in  the  third.  A  great  number  of 
these  have  been  translated  by  O'Donovan,  0' Curry, 
Whitley  Stokes,  and  others ;  and  I  have  given  a  free 
translation  of  twelve  of  the  most  beautiful  in  my  **  Old 
Celtic  Romances." 

In  Ireland  Ai't  was  practised  in  four  different 
branches  : — Ornamentation  and  illumination  of  manu- 
script books  ;  metal  work  ;  sculpture  ;  and  building. 
Art  of  every  kind  reached  its  highest  perfection  in  the 
period  between  the  end  of  the  ninth  and  the  beginning 
of  the  twelfth  century ;  after  which  all  cultivation 
degenerated  on  account  of  the  Danish  in^uptions  and 
the  Anglo-iS'orman  invasion. 

As  all  the  books  were  written  by  hand,  penmanship 
as  an  art  was  carefully  cultivated,  and  was  brought  to 
great  perfection.     The   old   scribes   of  Ireland,  who 


CHAP,  n.]  LirEEATTTEE,  AET,  AND  MUSIC.  13 

were  generally,  but  not  always,  monks,  and  were  held 
in  great  honour,  had  a  method  of  ornamentation  not 
used  by  scribes  of  other  countries.  It  is  chiefly  a  sort 
of  beautiful  interlaced  work  fonned  of  bands,  ribbons, 
and  cords,  which  are  cui'ved  and  twisted  and  inter- 
woven in  the  most  intricate  way,  mixed  up  with  waves 
and  spirals  ;  and  sometimes  you  see  the  faces  or  forms 
of  di'agons,  serpents,  or  other  strange -looking  animals, 
their  tails,  or  ears,  or  tongues  lengthened  out  and 
woven,  till  they  become  mixed  up  with  the  general 
design ;  and  sometimes  odd-looking  human  faces  or  full 
figures  of  men  or  of  angels.  The  pattern  is  often  so 
minute  as  to  require  the  aid  of  a  magnifying  glass  to 
examine  it.  The  scribes  usually  made  the  capital 
letters  very  large,  so  as  sometimes  to  fill  almost  an 
entire  page ;  and  on  these  they  exerted  their  utmost 
skill.  They  also  painted  the  open  spaces  of  the  letters 
and  ornaments  in  brilliant  colonics,  like  the  scribes  of 
other  countries  ;  which  art  was  called  Illumination. 

Several  of  the  highly  ornamented  books  are  still 
preserved,  of  which  the  most  remarkable  is  the  Book 
of  Kells,  now  in  Trinity  College,  Dublin,  written  on 
vellum,  probably  in  the  seventh  century.  It  is  a  copy 
of  the  Pour  Gospels  in  Latin  ;  and  for  beauty  of  execu- 
tion no  other  book  in  any  part  of  the  world  can  compare 
with  it.  The  Book  of  Armagh,  containing,  among 
many  other  pieces,  a  Life  of  St.  Patrick  and  a  complete 
copy  of  the  I^ew  Testament  in  Latin,  is  almost  as  beau- 
tifully written  as  the  Book  of  Kells.  It  was  finished 
A.D.  807  by  the  skilful  scribe  Perdomnach  of  Armagh, 
and  is  now  in  Trinity  College,  Dublin.  Another  book, 
scarcely  inferior  in  beauty  of  execution  to  the  Book  of 
Kells,  is  preserved  in  the  Archbishop's  Libraiy  at 
Lambeth.     It  is  a  copy  of  the  Gospels,  now  known  as 


14  A  CniLB's  HISTORY  OF  IRELAND.  [cHAP.  U. 

the  Book  of  Mac  Durnan,  written  in  Ireland  some  time 
from  A.D.  800  to  850.  I  have  given,  as  frontispiece, 
an  exact  reproduction  of  one  page  of  this  book  ;  and  a 
glance  at  it  will  give  a  better  idea  of  what  those  accom- 
plished old  Irish  scribes  could  do  than  any  amount 
of  description  (see  also  pp.  493,  494).  The  Book  of 
Durrow  in  Trinity  College,  and  the  "Stowe  Missal" 
in  the  Iloyal  Irish  Academy,  are  on  a  level  with  most 
of  the  preceding.  All  these  hooks  are  illuminated  in 
five  or  six  different  coloiu\s. 

The  Irish  artists  in  metal  work  were  quite  as  skilful 


Tlie  Ardagh  Chalice  (7  inciicb  ii;  hcijiht).     Fruiii  Mibs  Stokes  s  "  Harly  Christian 
Art  in  Ireland." 

as  the  scribes  were  in  penmanship.  The  ornamental 
patterns  were  generally  similar  to  those  used  in  manu- 
scripts, consisting  of  the  same  beautiful  curves  with 
interlacements ;  and  the  materials  employed  were  gold, 


CHAP.  H.]  LITEEATURE,  AET,  AND  MUSIC.  15 

silver,  bronze  of  a  whitish  coloui',  gems,  and  enamel. 
A  great  number  of  the  lovely  articles  made  by  those 
accomplished  artists  have  been  found  from  time  to  time, 
of  which  the  most  remarkable  and  beautiful  are  the 
Cross  of  Cong,  the  Ardagh  Chalice,  and  the  Tara 
Brooch,  all  now  to  be  seen  in  the  National  Museum  in 
Dublin.  The  Cross  of  Cong  (which  will  be  found 
figui'cd  in  this  book  at  p.  124)  is  2  feet  6  inches  high, 
covered  all  over  with  delicate  Celtic  designs  in  gold, 
silver,  enamel,  and  precious  stones,  with  a  series  of  in- 


The  Tara  Brooch.     Diam.  3?^  in.  :  length  of  pin  9  in.     Pin  cut  short  here  for 
want  of  room.    From  Miss  Stokes's  "  Early  Christian  Art  in  Ireland." 

scriptions  in  the  Irish  language  along  the  sides  giving 
its  full  history.  It  was  made  by  order  of  Turlogh 
0' Conor,  king  of  Connaught ;  and  the  artist,  who 
finished  his  work  in   1123,  and   who  deserves  to  be 


16 


A  Cnn.T)'s  HTSTOEY  OF  IRELAND.  [CHAP.  II. 


remembered  to  all  time  for  this  most  beautiful  piece  of 
work,  was  Mailisa  MacBradcIan  O'Hecban.  The  Chalice 
was  foimd  a  few  years  ago  biu'ied  in  the  ground  under 
a  stone  in  an  old  lis,  at  Ardagh  in  the  county  Limerick. 
It  is  elaborately  ornamented  with  designs  in  metal  and 
enamel ;  and  was  probably  made  some  time  before  the 
tenth  century.  The  Tara  Brooch  is  ornamented  all 
over  with  amber,  glass,  enamel,  and  with  the  Irish 
interlaced  work  in  metal.  Many  old  brooches  are 
preserved  (one  of  which  is  shown  here) ;  but  the  Tara 
Brooch  is  the  most  beautiful  and  perfect  of  all. 


No.  3. 


No.  I.— Ancient  Ornamented  Brooch.      Nos.  2  and  3.— Ancient  Ornamental  Patterns 
engraved  on  bone.    All  in  National  Museum,  Dublin.    From  Wilde's  Catalogue. 


From  very  early  times  the  Irish  were  celebrated  for 
their  skill  in  music ;  and  Irish  professors  and  teachers 
of  music  were  almost  as  much  in  request  in  foreign 
countries  ^s  those  of  literature.     In  the  middle  of  the 


CHAP,  n.]  LITEEATURE,  AET,  AND  MUSIC.  17 

seventh  century,  Gertrude,  abbess  of  Mvelle  in  Belgium, 
daughter  of  Pepin  mayor  of  the  palace,  engaged  saints 
Foillan  and  Ultan,  brothers  of  the  Irish  saint  Fursa,  to 
instruct  her  nuns  in  psalmody.  In  the  latter  half  of 
the  ninth  centuiy  the  cloister  schools  of  St.  Gall  in 
Switzerland,  were  conducted  by  an  Irishman,  Maengal 
or  Marcellus,  under  whose  teaching  the  music  school 
there  attained  its  highest  fame.  Giraldus  Cambrensis, 
who  seldom  had  a  good  word  for  anything  Irish,  speaks 
of  the  Irish  harpers  of  his  time — the  twelfth  centuiy — 
as  follows  : — "  They  are  incomparably  more  skilful 
than  any  other  nation  I  have  ever  seen.  It  is  aston- 
ishing that  in  so  complex  and  rapid  a  movement  of 
the  fingers  the  musical  proportions  [as  to  time]  can  be 
preserved  ;  and  that  the  harmony  is  completed  with 
such  a  sweet  rapidity."  For  centuries  after  the  time 
of  Giraldus  music  continued  to  be  cultivated  uninter- 
ruptedly ;  and  there  was  an  unbroken  succession  of 
great  professional  harpers,  who  maintained  their  ancient 
pre-eminence  till  a  comparatively  recent  time.  Down 
to  the  middle  of  the  last  centmy,  Ireland  continued  to 
be  the  school  for  Welsh  and  Scotch  harpers,  who  were 
never  considered  finished  players  till  they  had  spent 
some  time  under  the  instruction  of  the  skilled  Irish 
hai'pers.  We  still  possess  great  numbers  of  the  lovely 
airs  composed  by  the  old  Irish  musicians ;  and  many 
songs  have  been  wi'itten  to  them,  the  best  of  which 
are  those  by  Thomas  Moore. 

We  know  the  authors  of  many  of  the  airs  composed 
within  the  last  200  years  :  but  these  form  the  smallest 
portion  of  the  whole  body  of  Irish  music.  All  the  rest 
have  come  down  from  old  times,  scattered  fragments  of 
exquisite  beauty,  that  remind  us  of  the  refined  musical 
culture  of  our  forefathers.     Of  about  120  Irish  airs  in 


18 


A  child's  history  of  IRELAND.        |_CHAr.  III. 


all  Moore's  Melodies,  we  know  the 
authors  of  less  than  a  dozen  :  as  to 
the  rest,  nothing  is  known  either 
of  the  persons  who  composed  them 
or  of  the  times  of  their  composi- 
tion. 

The  harp  was  the  favourite  in- 
strument among  the  higher  classes 
of  people,  many  of  whom  played 
on  it,  merely  for  pleasure.  But  the 
lower  classes  loved  the  bagpipes 
better.  Soldiers  commonly  marched 
to  battle  inspirited  by  the  martial 
strains  of  one  or  more  pipers  march- 
ing at  their  head,  a  custom  retained 
to  this  day,  especially  among  the 
Scotch. 


Irish  Piper  playin^  at  the 
head  ol  a  band  marching  to 
battle.  From  Derrick's  "  Im- 
age of  Ireland"  ;  1578. 


CHAPTER  III. 


<3n 


DWELLINGS,    FORTRESSES,    AND   TOMBS. 

WELLING    HOUSES    wcro    mostly   of    a  round 

shape,    generally  made  of  wood,    very 

seldom  of   stone.      The  wall  was  very 

high,   and  was   fonned   of  long  peeled 

poles  standing  pretty  near  each  other, 

with    their    ends    fixed    deep    in    the 

ground  ;    and  the  spaces  between  were 

in  with  wickerwork  of  peeled  rods  and  twigs. 

hole  was  smoothly  plastered  and  made  brilliantly 

with  lime  on  the  outside  :  though  some  houses 


CHAP.  III.]      DWELLlifGS,  POETllESSES,  AND  TOMBS.  19 

were  fancifully  painted  all  over  in  bands  of  bright 
colours;  and  in  some  again  the  white  wickerwork 
was  left  uncovered  on  the  outside.  The  top  was 
cone-shaped,  and,  like  English  houses  of  coiTespond- 
ing  periods,  thatched  with  straw  or  rushes,  with 
an  opening  to  serve  as  chimney.  The  fire  was  kept 
burning  in  the  middle  of  the  floor:  but  in  all  large 
houses  there  was  a  special  kitchen  for  cooking.  When 
Heniy  II.  was  in  Dublin  in  1171,  he  had  a  splendid 
house  of  this  kind  erected,  in  which  he  spent  the 
Christmas  in  great  state  (see  page  136).  Families 
in  good  circumstances  had  two  or  three  of  these  round 
structures  beside  each  other,  forming  several  rooms  : 
but  the  poorer  people  had  only  one.  In  large  houses, 
the  door- jambs,  bed-posts,  &c.,  were  often  of  yew- 
wood,  curiously  carved.  The  family  commonly  lived, 
ate,  and  slept  in  one  large  apartment,  the  beds  being 
placed  roimd  the  wall,  and  separated  by  boarded  par- 
titions ;  but  we  often  find  mention  of  separate  bed- 
rooms for  different  members  of  the  family,  and  for 
guests.  A  bath  in  a  special  bath-room  was  quite 
usual.  In  houses  of  the  better  class  the  women  had 
one  apartment  for  themselves  called  a  greenan,  that 
is,  a  "  sunny- house,"  in  the  most  lightsome  part  of 
the  building. 

As  a  defence  against  wild  beasts  or  robbers,  each 
house  was  suiTounded  with  a  high  embankment  of 
earth,  having  a  strong  close  hedge  of  thorns  or  a 
palisade  of  stakes  on  top,  outside  of  which  was  a 
deep  trench  often  filled  with  water.  This  enclosure 
with  its  surrounding  rampart  was  called  a  rath  or  lis. 
Sometimes  a  whole  group  of  houses  stood  within  one 
large  rath.  For  greater  security,  dwellings  were  often 
constructed  on  artificial  islands  made  with  stakes, 
c  2 


20  A  child's  history  of  irelani).      [chap.  in. 

trees,  and  bushes,  in  shallow  lakes  :  these  were  called 
crannog'es.  Communication  with  the  shore  was  carried 
on  by  means  of  a  small  boat  kept  on  the  island.  Cran- 
noge  dwellings  were  in  pretty  general  use  in  the  time 
of  Queen  Elizabeth  ;  and  the  remains  of  many  of  them 
are  still  to  be  seen  in  our  lakes. 

The  dwelling  of  a  king,  which  was  commonly  called 
a  Dun  [doon],  was  fortified  with  two  or  thi-ee  sets  of 
surrounding  ramparts  and  trenches,  and  there  was  often 
a  high  mound  in  the  centre,  flat  on  top  for  the  house 


The  great  "  Moat  of  KMfinnane,"  Co.  Limerick,  believed  to  be  Treda-na-Ree, 
the  triple-fossed  fort  of  the  kings,  one  of  the  seats  of  the  kings  of  Munster.  Total 
diameter  320  feet.     From  a  drawing  by  the  author,  1854. 

or  fortress  of  the  king.  The  remains  of  these  old 
palaces  may  still  be  seen  at  most  of  the  ancient  royal 
residences ;  as  for  instance  at  Tara,  Emain,  and  E,ath- 
croghan.** 

Sometimes  the  rampart  suiTOunding  the  dwellings 
was  a  wall  of   stone  without  mortar :    for  the  use  of 

*  The  following  are  the  most  important  of  the  ancient  royal 
residences  of  Ireland  : — 

Of  the  kings  of  Ireland :  Tara  in  Meath  (before  its  abandon- 
ment in  6th  century)  :  Tailltenn  on  the  river  Blackwater,  mid- 
way between  Navan  and  Kells  :  Tlachtga,  now  the  Hill  of  Ward 
near  Athboy  in  Meath  :  Ushnagh  in  Westmeath. 

Of  the  kings  of  Ulster  :  Emain  near  Armagh  :  Greenan-Ely . 
Dun-Keltair  beside  Downpatrick. 

Of  the  kings  of  Leinster :  Naas :  Dimlavin  in  Wicklow  .* 
Dinnree  (p.  59) :  Dun  Aillinne  near  KilcuUen,  Co.  Kildare. 


CHAP.  III.]      DWELLINGS,  FOETEESSES,  AND  TOMBS.  21 

mortar  was  not  known  in  Ireland  till  after  the  time 
of  St.  Pati'ick ;  and  they  built  in  dry  masonry  like  the 
very  early  Greeks.  These  circular  stone  fortresses, 
which  are  built  with  much  rude  art  —  the  stones 
fitting  all  through  with  great  exactness — are  called 
cahers  and  sometimes  cashels.  The  palace  of  the 
northern  Hy  I^eill,  now  called  Greenan-Ely,  situated 


Staigue  Fort,  half  way  between  Sneem  and  Darrynane  in  Kerry.     Diameter 
114  feet    From  Newenham's  "  Picturesque  Views  of  Ireland,"  1830. 

in  Donegal  within  fom-  miles  of  Deny,  is   a   caher, 
very  like  Staigue  Fort  in  Kerry  which  is  figui'ed  here. 

Of  the  kings  of  Munster :  Cashel :  Bruree  in  Limerick : 
Caher  in  Tipperary :  Treda-na-Ree  (see  illustration  on  last 
page) :    Kincora  at  Killaloe. 

Of  the  kings  of  Connaught :  Croghan,  near  the  village  of 
Rathcroghan  in  the  north  of  Roscommon. 

At  nearly  all  of  these  places,  the  mounds,  entrenchments,  and 
circumvallations  of  the  old  palaces,  mostly  of  earth,  but  some- 
times of  stone,  are  still  to  be  seen. 


99 


A  child's  HisiaRr  of  Ireland,      [chap.  in. 


Another  magnificeTit  caher  is  Dim-Aengus  in  Aran, 
which  will  be  found  represented  at  page  51. 

There  are  now  no  traces  left  of  the  wooden  houses 
erected  in  any  of  these  old  forts  ;  but  the  raths,  lisses, 
duns,  cahers,  cashels,  and  mounds  are  still  to  be  seen 
in  every  part  of  Ireland,  and  are  called  by  these  names. 
Circular  houses  within  circular  forts  gradually  gave 
place  to  the  four-cornered  houses  that  we  have  at  pre- 
sent :  but  they  continued  in  use  till  the  thirteenth  or 
fourteenth  centuiy. 

The  ancient  Irish  buried  their  dead  in  three  di:fferent 
ways,  of  which  the  most  usual  was  depositing  the  body 
in  the  grave  as  at  present.  Sometimes  the  body  of  a 
king,  or  great  warrior,  or  other  notable  person,  was 
placed  standing  up  in  the  grave,  fully  dressed  in  battle 
array,  with  sword  in  hand,  and  with  his  face  turned 
towards  the  territory  of  his  enemies :  King  Laegaii'e 
[Leary]  was  bui'ied  in  this  manner  in  one  of  the  ramparts 
of  Tara.  The  pagan  Irish  believed  that  while  the  body 
of  their  king  remained  in  this  position  it  exercised  a 
malign  influence  on  their  enemies,  who  were  thereby 
always  defeated  in  battle.  Owen  Bel,  king  of  Con- 
naught,  when  dying  of  a  wound  received  in  a  battle 
fought  near  Sligo  against  the  Ulstermen  in  a.d.  537, 
said  to  his  people  : — "  Buiy  me  with  my  red  javelin  in 
my  hand  on  the  side  of  the  hill  by  which  the  IS'ortherns 
pass  when  fleeing  before  the  army  of  Connaught,  and 
place  me  with  my  face  tui-ned  towards  them  in  my 
grave."  And  this  was  done,  and  the  Ulstermen  were 
always  routed  after  that ;  till  at  last  they  came  and 
removed  the  body  to  another  grave,  placing  it  head 
downwards :  which  broke  the  baleful  spell. 

Very  often  the  body  was  burned,  and  the  ashes  were 
placed  in  an  ornamental  urn  of  baked  clay,  which  was 


CHAP.  HI.  J      DWELLINGS,  P0ETEE6SES,  AND  TOMBS. 


23 


deposited  in  the  ground  in  a  sort  of  chest  formed  of 

flags.     Oiu'  histories  do  not  tell  us  about  this,  for  the 

custom  had  ceased  before  his- 

toiy  began :  but  we  know  it 

was  very  general  in  Ireland, 

because  urns  containing  ashes 

and  half -biu'ned  human  bones 

are  very  often  found  in  old 

graves.     Sometimes  the  body 

or  urn  was  placed  in  what  we 

now  call  a  cromlech,  fonned 

of  several  large  upright  stones 

supporting    on   top   one    im- 


mense flat  stone,  so  as  to 
enclose  a  rude  chamber.  A. 
cromlech    was   much    the   same 


Cinerary  Urn,  found  in  a  pagan  grave. 
From  Wilde's  Catalogue. 


as   the  flat  tombs  in 


Cromlech  at  Tawnatruffaun,  Sligo  :  7  feet  high.     From  Wood-Martin's  "  Pagan 
Ireland."     N.  B.— Cromlechs  are  now  sometimes  called  Dolmens. 

churchyards  of  the  present  day,  except  that  the  stones 
were  much  larger,  and  were  in  their  rough  state,  with- 


24  A  child's  niSTORT  OF  IRELAND.        [CHAP.  III. 

out  being  hammered  or  chiselled  into  shape.  Many 
of  these  cromlechs  still  remain,  and  are  often  called  by 
the  people  ''  Giants'  Graves." 

Often  a  great  mound  of  stones  called  a  cairn  was 
heaped  over  the  grave.  In  old  times  people  had  a 
fancy  for  burying  on  the  tops  of  hills,  so  that  cairns 
are  still  to  be  seen  on  many  hill-tops,  under  eveiy  one 
of  Tvhich  sleeps  some  person  of  consequence  in  the  days 
of  old.  On  the  level  lowlands,  the  mound  was  some- 
times of  stones,  or  of  stones  and  clay ;  and  many  of 
these  also  remain.  In  every  mound,  whether  on  hill  or 
plain,  there  was  a  chamber  formed  of  flags  deep  down 
in  the  centre,  in  which  the  body  or  um  was  placed.  A 
bui'ial  mound  has  no  ramparts  round  it ;  and  by  this  it 
may  generally  be  distinguished  from  the  mound  of  a 
dun  or  fortress. 


Burial  Mound  on  the  Boyne  near  Clonard  in  Meath.     Circunncrence  433  feet ; 
height  50  feet.    From  Wilde's  "  Boyne  and  Blackwater." 


Composed  from  the  Book  of  Kells. 

CHAPTER  IV. 

FOOD,    DEESS,    AKD    DAILY   LIFE. 

IT  the  regular  meals  the  whole  household 
sat  in  one  large  room,  the  chief  and 
his  family  and  distinguished  guests  at 
the  head,  and  the  rest  of  the  company 
ranged  downwards  in  order  of  rank. 
For  food,  the  higher  classes  used  the  flesh  of  wild 
and  domestic  animals,  boiled  or  roast,  much  as  at  the 
present  day,  with  wheaten  bread.  The  main  food  of 
the  general  body  of  the  people  consisted  of  various 
kinds  of  bread  baked  on  a  griddle ;  milk,  curds,  cheese, 
butter ;  fish  and  fruit ;  and,  for  those  who  could  afford 
it,  pork  and  bacon.  Pork  was  a  favourite  food  among 
all  classes.  Oatmeal  porridge,  or  stirabout,  as  it  is 
called  in  Ireland,  was  in  very  general  use,  especially 
for  children,  and  was  eaten  with  milk,  butter,  or  honey. 
The  Irish  rivers  abounded  then  as  now  in  salmon,  a 
food  which  was  in  great  request. 

There  was  then  no  sugar,  and  honey  was  greatly 
valued  :  beehives  were  kept  everywhere  ;  and  the 
management  of  bees  was  considered  such  an  important 
industry  that  a  special  section  of  the  Brehon  Laws  is 
devoted  to  it.  The  people  used  honey  in  a  great  many 
different  ways  :  they  basted  roasting  meat  with  it ;  it 
was  used  on  salmon  while  cooking,  and  as  a  seasoning 
with  all  sorts  of  dishes.     Often  at  meals  each  person 


A  child's  niSTOKY  OF  IRELAND.         [cnAP.  IV. 


had  a  little  dish,  sometimes  of  silver,  filled  with  honey, 
beside  his  plate,  and  each  morsel,  whether  meat,  fish, 
or  bread,  was  dipped  into  it  before  being  conveyed  to 
the  mouth.  For  di'ink,  they  had — besides  plain  water 
and  milk  —  ale,  mead,  and  frequently  wine  brought 
fi'om  the  Continent :  for  in  those  early  days  there  was 
fi'equent  communication,  as  well  as  considerable  trade, 
with  France  and  other  continental  countries.  The 
people  often  mixed  honey  with  milk,  either  sweet  or 
soul',  for  di'inking.  From  honey  also  was  made  a  kind 
of  liquor  called  mead,  very  sweet  and  slightly  intoxicat- 
ing. This  was  considered  a  delicacy ;  and  a  visitor  was 
often  treated  to  a  diink  of  mead  immediately  on  arrival. 
People  of  the  higher  classes  often 
drank  from  a  beautiful  horn  of  elabo- 
rate and  costly  workmanship.  A 
much  more  common  (kinking  vessel 
was  what  was  called  a  mether  (from 
mead),    made    of   wood,    with    one. 


No. 


No. 


I.— The  "  Kavanagh  Horn,"  in  Museum  of  Trinity  College,  Dublin  ;  of  ivory, 
ornamented  with  gilt  metal  plates  and  bands :  i6  inches  high.  2.— Mether  in 
National  Museum  :  8Ji  inches  high.     Both  Irom  Wilde's  Catalogue. 

two,  or  four  handles,  which  circulated  fi'om  hand  to  hand , 
each  passing  it  to  his  neighboui'  after  taking  a  drink. 


CHAP.  IV.]  FOOD,  DEESS,  AND  DAILY  LITE.  27 

In  every  great  house  there  was  at  least  one  large- 
sized  calcli'on  which  was  kept  in  continual  use  boiling 
food,  so  that  guests  might  be  hospitably  entertained 
whenever  they  happened  to  arrive.  Of  the  many 
ancient  caldrons  preserved  in  the  IS'ational  Museum, 
Dublin,  the  gracefully  shaped  one  here  figured  is  made 
of  bronze  plates  beautifully  rivetted  together. 


Aiicien:  Bionze  Caldron  :   12  inches  deep.     From  ^\'ilde's  Catalog-ue. 

At  intervals  through  the  country  there  were  houses 
of  public  hospitality — open  Irudins  or  hostels — where 
all  travellers  who  called,  and  also  certain  important 
persons,  such  as  kings,  chiefs,  bishops,  brehons,  &c., 
when  on  their  circuits,  were  entertained  fi^ee  of  expense. 
The  keeper  of  one  of  these  houses  was  called  a  brugaid 
[broo-ee],  i.e.  a  public  hostel-keeper :  and  sometimes  a 
beetagh.  He  was  held  in  great  honoui-;  and  he  had 
a  tract  of  land,  besides  other  large  allowances,  to  enable 
him  to  maintain  his  expensive  establishment. 

Small  corn  mills  driven  by  water  were  used  in  Ire- 
land fi'om  very  remote  ages.  In  early  Christian  times 
almost  every  monastery  had  a  mill  attached  to  it  for  the 
use  of  the  community.   In  most  houses  there  was  a  quern 


28  A  CHILD'S  HISTORY  OF  IRELAND.  [CHAP.  IV. 

or  handmill,  which  was  commonly  worked  by  women, 
who  each  evening  ground  corn  enough  for  next  day. 

Querns  continued  in  use 
down  to  our  time  in  re- 
mote parts  of  Ireland. 

For  light  they  had  dipt 
candles,  which  were  held 
in  candlesticks,  some- 
times with  branches.  The 
poorer  classes  used  peeled 

Quern  in  National  Museum.    Axis  through  rUShcS    SOakcd     iu    grCaSC, 

centre  openmg.     Wooden  handles  in  other  SOmctimeS     SCe     at 
two  holes,  by   which  the  upper  stone  was 

turned  round.    Corn  ground  between.   From  1}iq  prCSCUt  daV.       As  beCS 

Wilde's  Catalogue.  ^               -,■,,■, 

were  so  abundant,  bees- 
wax, as  might  be  expected,  was  turned  to  account. 
In  some  of  our  old  records  we  find  wax  candles  men- 
tioned as  being  used  in  the  houses  of  the  richer  classes 
(in  Dinm-ee  for  instance)  long  before  the  fifth  century. 
For  a  king,  it  was  customary  to  make  an  immense 
candle,  sometimes  as  thick  as  a  man's  body,  with  a 
great  bushy  wick,  which  was  always  kept  burning  in 
his  presence  at  night: — in  the  palace  it  was  placed 
high  over  his  head;  during  war  it  blazed  outside  his 
tent  door ;  and  on  night  marches  it  was  borne  before 
him.  As  there  were  forests  and  thickets  everywhere, 
wood  was  the  most  usual  fuel ;  but  dried  peat  cut  from 
bogs  was  also  burned ;  and  coal  and  charcoal  were  used 
by  smiths  and  other  metal-workers. 

In  ordinary  out-door  life,  the  men  wore  a  large 
loose  frieze  mantle  or  overall,  which  was  often  so  long 
as  to  cover  them  down  to  the  ankles  :  among  the  rich 
it  was  usually  of  fine  cloth,  often  variegated  with 
scarlet  and  other  brilliant  colours,  and  fastened  at  the 
thi'oat  with  a  beautiful  brooch. 


CHAP.  IT.]  FOOD,  DEESS,  AND  DAILY  LIFE.  29 

Well-dressed  people  wore  inside  this  a  shorter  tight- 
fitting  garment,  generally  reaching  to  the  middle  of  the 
thigh,  but  often  below  the  knee,  plaited  up  and  down 
and  fastened  at  the  waist  by  a  belt.  This  was  some- 
times dyed  in  coloiu' :  the  inner  coat  is  a  blight  red  in 
the  original  picture  of  Ai't  Mac  MuiTogh  Kavanagh 
from  which  the  illustration  on  page  175  has  been 
copied.  In  active  life  the  outer  mantle  was  thrown 
off,  as  may  be  seen  in  the  two  archers  in  the  illus- 
tration, page  42.  A  single  short  mantle,  always  dyed 
in  coloui',  and  sometimes  furnished  with  a  hood, 
was  also  much  worn.  This  is  seen  in  some  of  the 
figures  on  pages  137  and  190.  It  should  be  remarked 
here  that  the  Irish  were  very  fond  of  bright  colours, 
and  well  understood  the  art  of  dyeing.  The  trousers 
were  tight  fitting;  the  cap  was  usually  cone-shaped 
and  without  a  leaf  :  as  shown  in  the  horseman,  p.  48. 
But  the  common  people  generally  went  bare-headed, 
wearing  the  hair  long,  hanging  down  behind,  and 
clipped  in  front  just  above  the  eyes,  as  mentioned 
by  Camden  when  describing  Shane  O'jS'eill's  Gallo- 
glasses  (quoted  on  page  216  below),  and  as  we  see 
in  the  figures  on  page  190,  and  elsewhere  in  this  book. 
Perhaps  the  oldest  extant  representations  of  Irish 
costume  are  those  shown  in  the  figui'es  on  page  99, 
from  the  Book  of  Kells — seventh  century.  The  shoes 
or  sandals  were  mostly  of  untanned  hide  stitched  with 
thongs,  but  sometimes  of  tanned  leather  curiously 
stamped  or  engraved.  Occasionally  the  ladies  of  high 
families  wore  sandals  of  whitish  bronze  highly  orna- 
mented. In  early  times  gloves  were  common  among 
the  higher  classes. 

The  women  generally  wore  variously- coloured  tunics 
down   to   the  very  feet,  with   many  folds   and  much 


30 


A  child's  history  of  IRELAND.         [CHAP.  IV  . 


material — twenty  or  thirty  yards — under  which  was  a 
long  gown  or  kirtlc.     Linen,  whether  used  by  men  or 


Ancient  Irish  Ornamented  Shoe  in  National  Museum.     From  Wilde's  Catalogue. 


women,  was  dyed  saffron.  The  married  women  had  a 
kerchief  on  the  head :  the  unmarried  girls  went  bare- 
headed,   with    the   hair    either    folded    up    neatly   or 

hanging  down  on  the 
hack.  They  took  much 
care  of  the  hair,  and 
used  combs,  some  of 
them  very  ornamental. 
The  higher  classes 
were  fond  of  gold 
ornaments ;  such  as 
brooches,  bracelets  for 
the  anns,  rings,  neck- 
laces, twisted  torques 
or  collars  to  be  worn  round  the  neck,  or  bright  rich- 
looking  clasps  to  confine  the  hair.  Other  ornamental 
articles  were  made  of  silver  or  white  bronze,  enamelled 
in  various  colours,  and  set  with  gems.  A  great  number 
of  these,  many  of  most  beautiful  workmanship,  are 
preserved  in  the  National  Museum  in  Dublin.     One 


Ancient  Irish  Ornamental  Comb  of  bone,  in 
National  Museum.    From  Wilde's  Catalogue. 


CHAP.  IT.]  rOOB,  DEESS,  AND  DAILY  LIFE. 


31 


torque  of  pure  gold  (figui-ed  here)  found  near  Tara, 
measures  fire  and  a  half  feet  in  length,  and  weighs 
twenty- seven  and  a  half 
ounces. 

It  was  the  custom  to 
hold  fair  -  meetings  in 
various  places  for  the 
transaction  of  important 
business,  sometimes  once 
a  year,  sometimes  once 
in  three  years.  The  most 
important  of  all  was  the 

Fes    of    Tara,    mentioned  Cold  Torque.     From  Petries"  Tara.- 

at  pp.  55  and  56.    Yery 

important  yearly  meetings  were  held  at  the  Hill  of 
Ward  {Tlachtga)  near  Athboy  in  Meath;  at  the  Hill 
of  Ushnagh  in  Westmeath;  and  at  Tailltenn,  now 
Teltown,  on  the  Blackwater  between  IN'avan  and  Kells  in 
Meath.  This  last  was  the  great  national  assembly  for 
horse  races  and  all  kinds  of  athletic  games  and  exercises. 
A  triennial  meeting  was  held  at  Wexford;  and  there 
were  fair-meetings  in  numberless  other  places.  At 
these  assemblies  laws  were  proclaimed  to  keep  them 
before  the  minds  of  the  people,  taxes  were  arranged, 
pastimes  and  athletic  sports  were  carried  on,  as  well  as 
buying  and  selling  as  we  see  at  fairs  of  the  present  day. 
In  those  times,  so  very  few  were  able  to  read,  that 
for  all  information  and  amusement  to  be  derived  from 
books  the  people  had  to  depend  on  professional  story- 
tellers and  poets,  who  had  great  numbers  of  tales  and 
poems  by  heart,  the  very  tales  and  poems  contained  in 
the  Book  of  Leinster  and  the  other  volumes  described  in 
chapter  n.  There  were  many  such  men,  who  often 
travelled  from  place  to  place  and  earned  a  good  liveli- 


32 


A  CniLli's  HISTORY  JF  IKELAND.         [CHAP.  IV. 


hood  by  their  profession.  At  every  festive  gathering, 
among  the  lowest  as  well  as  the  highest,  one  of  these 
story-tellers  was  sure  to  be  present,  who  was  now  and 
then  called  upon  to  repeat  a  tale  or  a  poem  for  the 
amusement  of  the  company.  And  as  soon  as  he  stood 
up,  these  rough  men  ceased  their  noisy  revels,  and 
listened  with  rapt  delight  to  some  tale  of  the  heroes  of 
old.  A  harper  was  also  present,  who  charmed  the 
company  with  his  beautiful  Irish  airs :  or  if  it  was 
a  gathering  of  the  lower  classes,  more  likely  a  piper. 

Chess-playing 
was  a  favourite 
pastime  of  kings 
and  chiefs  ;  and  in 
every  gxeat  house 
there  were  sure  to 
be  a  chessboard 
and  a  set  of  chess- 
men for  the  amuse- 
ment of  the  family 
and  their  guests. 
The  chessmen  were 
kept  in  a  bag  often 
of  woven  brass 
wire.  Chess  is 
mentioned  in  the 
very  oldest  of  the 
Irish  romantic 
tales;  and  it  was 
considered  a  neces- 
sary accomplish- 
ment of  every  hero 
to  be  a  good  player.  In  the  National  Museum  in 
Dublin  there  is  one  chessman,  which  is  figured  here ; 
but  many  have  been  found  in  Scotland. 


Bone  Chessman,  Kinjj,  full  size  ;  found  in  a  bojj  in 
Meath  about  1817.  Drawn  by  Petrie :  "  Book  of 
Rights,"  page  Ixii. 


CHAP.  IT.]  FOOD,  DEESS,  AND  DAILY  LIFE.  33 

Fosterage  prevailed  from  the  remotest  period,  and 
was  practised  by  persons  of  all  classes,  but  more 
especially  by  tbose  of  the  higher  ranks.  A  man  sent 
his  child  to  be  reared  and  educated  in  the  home  and 
with  the  family  of  another  member  of  the  tribe,  who 
then  became  foster-father,  and  his  sons  and  daughters 
the  foster-brothers  and  foster-sisters  of  the  child. 
Fosterage,  which  was  the  closest  tie  between  families, 
was  subject  to  strict  regulations,  which  were  carefully 
set  forth  in  the  Brehon  Law. 

When  a  man  stood  sponsor  for  a  child  at  baptism, 
he  became  the  child's  godfather,  and  gossip  to  the 
parents :  this  was  called  gossipred.  It  was  regarded 
as  a  sort  of  religious  relationship  between  families, 
and  created  mutual  obligations  of  regard  and  fiiend- 
ship. 

There  were  five  great  highways  leading  in  five 
different  directions  thi^ough  Ireland  fi'om  Tara  :  and 
besides  these  there  were  numerous  others ;  so  that  the 
country  seems  to  have  been  very  fairly  provided  with 
roads.  The  Brehon  Law  laid  down  arrangements  for 
keeping  them  in  repair;  and  every  man  whose  land  lay 
for  any  distance  next  a  road  had  to  help  in  cleaning 
and  repairing  that  part  of  it.  But  the  roads  then  were 
not  near  so  smooth  and  good  as  those  we  have  at  the 
present  time.  When  the  road  came  to  a  bog  or  marsh, 
a  causeway  of  bushes  and  clay  was  constructed  across. 
Stone  bridges  were  not  then  used  in  Ireland ;  but  there 
were  many  constructed  of  timber  planks  or  rough  tree- 
trunks.  Eivers  however  were  very  generally  crossed 
by  wading  through  fords  where  the  stream  spread  out 
broad  and  shallow,  and  often  by  swimming;  for  most 
young  persons  were  taught  to  swim  as  a  regular  part 
of  their  education. 


34 


A  child's  history  of  IRELAND.        [CHAP.  IV. 


Chariots  were  used  both  in  private  life  and  in  war. 
The  early  Irish  saints  commonly  travelled  in  chariots 
when  on  their  long  missionary  journeys.    Chariots  were 


Ancient  Irish  Chariots  on  base  of  Cross  at  Clonmacnoise :  9th  century. 
From  Wood-Martin,  "  Pagan  Ireland,"  page  247.  It  is  also  figured  in 
Miss  Stokes's  "  Christian  Inscriptions,"  I.,  PI.  xxxiii. 

often  covered  in;  and  those  used  by  persons  of  high 
rank  were  luxuriously  furnished  with  cushions  and 
furs.  It  was  usual  to  yoke  two  horses ;  but  sometimes 
there  were  four.  The  battle  chariots  were  open,  and 
were  furnished  with  spikes  and  scythe-blades  for  driv- 
ing through  the  ranks  of  the  enemy. 

Horses  were  used  a  good  deal  by  the  higher  classes. 
The  men  rode  without  saddle  or  stirrup ;  and  were  trained 
to  vault  into  their  seat  from  either  side,  right  or  left. 
Mac  Murrogh  Kavanagh  rode  down  hill  in  this  manner 
when  coming  to  confer  with  the  Earl  of  Gloucester 
(page  175,  below).  Low  benches  were  common  on  the 
roadsides  to  enable  old  or  infirm  persons  to  mount. 

The  Irish  had  three  kinds  of  boats : — small  sailing 
vessels,  with  which  oars  were  employed  when  the  wind 
failed;  canoes  of  one  piece  hollowed  out  from  the 
trunks  of  trees,  which  were  chiefly  used  on  lakes ;  and 
currachs^  that  is,  wickerwork  boats  covered  with  hides. 


CHAP,  v.] 


miSH  PAGAiaSM. 


35 


The  single -piece  canoes  are  now  often  found  deep  down 
in  bogs,  where  there  were,  or  are,  lakes  or  crannoges. 
Cmrachs  are  still  used  on  the  western  coast,  as  for  in- 
stance at  Kilkee  in  Co.  Clare ;  but  instead  of  hides,  they 
are  now  covered  with  a  cheaper  material,  tarred  canvas. 


Group  on  ancient  engraved  book-cover  of  bone,  showing  costume ;  one  with 
cymbals  ;  and  all  engaged  in  some  kind  of  dance :  14th  or  15th  century.  From 
Wilde's  Catalogue. 


CHAPTER  Y. 


IRISH      PAGANISM. 

T  is  commonly  understood  that  the  religion  of  the 
pagan  Irish  was  Druidism.  Eut  although 
oui'  old  books  speak  very  often  of  this 
Druidism,  they  do  not  give  us  any  clear 
idea  of  what  sort  of  religion  it  was.  There 
were  persons  called  Druids,  who  were  learned 
men,  the  only  men  of  those  times  that  had 
any  learning  :  and  as  all  learned  professions 
were  then  usually  combined  in  the  one  per- 
son, every  druid  was  also  a  physician,  a  poet,  a  historian, 
d2 


36  A  child's  history  or  ieeland.       [chap.  v. 

and  a  brelion.  But  later  on,  after  the  people  had  be- 
come Christian,  and  there  were  no  longer  any  di'uids, 
the  professions  became  divided,  and  one  man  was  a 
brehon,  another  a  poet,  another  a  physician,  and  so  on. 

The  di'uids  had  the  reputation  of  being  great  magi- 
cians, and  this  indeed  is  the  character  in  which  thoy 
principally  figure  in  old  Irish  writings.  The  people 
believed  that  they  could  do  many  wonderful  things  by 
their  spells : — that  they  could  raise  clouds  and  mists, 
and  bring  down  showers  of  snow,  of  fire,  or  of  blood  ; 
that  they  could  give  a  person  a  "  cloak  of  darkness  "  to 
make  him  invisible ;  that  they  could  di'ive  a  man  mad 
or  make  him  an  idiot  by  flinging  in  his  face  a  ' '  magic 
wisp  "  of  straw  over  which  they  had  pronounced  some 
dreadful  words;  with  many  other  marvellous  things. 
They  professed  also  to  be  able  to  foretell  future  events 
by  casting  lots,  by  di-eams,  by  listening  to  the  croaking 
of  ravens  or  the  chirping  of  wrens,  or  by  looking  at  the 
clouds  or  stars.  The  di^uids  were  employed  to  educate 
the  chikben  of  kings  and  chiefs;  so  that  they  were 
persons  of  high  position  and  great  influence,  held  in 
respect  by  all,  and  much  di^eaded  by  the  common  people. 
Some  writers  think  that  they  were  also  a  sort  of  pagan 
priests  like  those  of  Greece  and  Eome.  Ko  doubt  the 
diTiidic  systems  of  Gaul,  Britain,  and  Ireland  were 
origina Jy  one  and  the  same,  as  being  derived  from  some 
common  Eastern  source  ;  but  ilruidism  seems  to  have 
become  greatly  modified  in  Ireland:  and  the  descrip- 
tions of  the  Gaulish  and  British  druids  by  Caesar  and 
others,  give  us  no  information  regarding  those  of  Ire- 
land. The  short  account  of  Irish  cbuids  given  here  is 
derived  from  purely  native  soui'ces,  beyond  which  we 
cannot  go,  as  we  have  no  information  fi^om  outside. 

The  pagan  Irish  had  gods  and  goddesses,  many  of 


CHAP,  v.]  lEISH  PAGANISM.  37 

whom  are  named  in  the  old  writings  :  but  there  was  no 
one  of  them  at  the  head  of  all  the  others,  like  Jupiter 
among  the  Greeks  and  Eomans.  The  Irish  sea-god  was 
Mannanan  Mac  Lir,  a  Dedannan  chief  who  became 
deified  after  his  death;  and  the  people  thought  that 
when  they  looked  out  from  shore  over  the  sea,  on  a 
stormy  night,  they  could  see  dimly  thi'ough  the  gloom 
thousands  of  Mannanan' s  white-maned  steeds  careering 
along  on  the  crests  of  the  wayes.  The  people  also 
worshipped  the  Shee  or  fairies.  The  belief  was  that 
the  Dedannans  (who  are  described  at  pages  52  and  53), 
after  they  had  been  conquered  by  the  Milesians,  went 
to  liye  undergi^ound  and  became  fairies.  Each  Dedan- 
nan chief  selected  a  gi^een  mound,  called  in  the  Irish 
language  a  shee  or  fairy-hill,  under  which  he  took  up 
his  residence  with  his  followers,  in  a  glorious  palace 
brilliantly  lighted  up,  and  all  sparkling  with  gems  and 
gold.  These  shees,  which  are  scattered  oyer  the  country, 
are  usually  old  burial  moimds,  or  natiu'al  hills  haying 
on  top  a  rath,  a  mound,  a  great  natiu'al  rock,  or  a  cairn. 
The  fairies  themselyes  were  also  called  shee ;  and  they 
were  belieyed  to  issue  forth  from  the  hills  at  night  and 
roam  oyer  the  country,  doing  hann  much  oftener  than 
good.  The  people  did  not  loye  the  shee,  but  di^eaded 
them  yeiy  much,  and  whateyer  worship  they  paid  them 
was  merely  intended  to  keep  them  from  inflicting 
injury. 

In  some  places  idols  were  worshipped.  There  were 
idols  of  some  kind  in  the  king's  palace  at  Cashel,  which 
were  all  destroyed  when  St.  Patrick  yisited  the  place 
and  conyerted  the  king.  In  the  present  county  Cayan, 
on  a  plain  anciently  called  by  an  Irish  name  signifying 
the  "Plain  of  Adoration,"  there  stood  an  idol  called 
Crom  Cruach,  covered  all  over  with  gold,  suiTounded 


38  A  CniLD^S  IIISTOIIY  OF  IHELAND.  [cHAP.  V. 

by  twelve  smaller  idols,  all  of  wliicli  were  destroyed  by 
St.  Patrick.  Crom  Cruaeli  was  adored  by  King  Laeg- 
aire  [Leary]  and  by  other  kings,  for  it  was  tlie  chief 
idol  of  all  Ireland.  These  thirteen  idols  were  nothing  but 
rough  pillar  stones  ;  and  there  is  good  reason  to  believe 
that  many  others  of  the  idols  of  Ireland  were  pillar  stones 
also.  There  is  no  good  evidence  to  show  that  the  pagan 
Irish  offered  human  sacrifices :  though  some  wi'iters, 
on  insufficient  authority,  have  asserted  that  they  did. 

JS'atiu'al  objects  were  worshipped  by  many.  We  are 
told  of  a  druid  of  the  time  of  St.  Patrick  who  had  a 
certain  spring  well  called  Slan  [i.  e.  Health :  pron. 
slaun]  for  a  god,  but  who  regarded  fire  as  an  evil 
spirit;  and  when  he  was  dying,  he  ordered  that  his 
body  should  be  buried  deep  under  the  well,  to  keep  his 
bones  cool  from  the  fire  that  he  di'eaded.  Well-worship 
was  pretty  general :  while  some  few  worshipped  fire, 
and  others  the  sun  and  moon.  The  custom  of  worship- 
ping such  objects  was  probably  the  reason  that  the  pagan 
Irish,  when  putting  people  on  oath,  made  them  swear 
by  the  sun  and  moon,  the  earth  and  sky,  the  sea  and 
colours,  and  all  the  elements  :  for  this  was  the  old  Irish 
f  onn  of  oath ;  and  it  was  believed  that  whoever  \'iolated 
such  an  oath  was  sure  to  suffer  some  great  calamity. 

The  pagan  Irish  had  a  dim  sort  of  belief  in  a  land  of 
everlasting  youth  and  peace,  called  by  various  names, 
such  as  Moy-Mell,  the  land  of  pleasure  ;  Tirnanoge,  the 
land  of  perpetual  youth;  /  Brazil  or  0  Brazil,  &c. 
As  to  where  it  was  situated,  the  accounts  vaiy  :  or 
perhaps  it  would  be  more  correct  to  say  that  there 
were  many  such  happy  lands.  Sometimes  it  was  deep 
under  ground  in  some  glittering  spany  cave,  and  some- 
times beneath  the  sea,  or  down  under  a  lake.  I  Brazil 
was  out  in  the  Atlantic  Ocean;    and  people  thought 


CHAP,  v.]  IRISH  PAGANISM.  39 

that  it  could  be  seen  from  the  cliffs  of  the  west,  lying 
like  a  cloud  far  out  on  the  verge  of  the  sea.  This  dim 
western  island  was  also  called  Moy-Mell.  It  was 
always  fairies  who  inhabited  these  happy  lands  ;  and 
sometimes  they  carried  off  mortals  to  them.  There  is 
a  pretty  story,  more  than  a  thousand  years  old,  in  the 
Book  of  the  Dun  Cow,  which  relates  how  Prince  Connla 
of  the  Golden  Hair,  son  of  Conn  the  Hundred-Fighter, 
was  carried  off  by  a  fairy  from  the  western  shore  in  a 
crystal  boat  out  to  Moy-Mell,  and  was  never  seen 
again.  In  the  note  below  is  given  the  opening  of  this 
tale  exactly  as  it  came  from  the  pen  of  the  old  scribe 
MacKelleher,  who  copied  it  into  the  Book  of  the  Dun 
Cow,  from  some  older  book,  about  the  year  1100.-'' 

*  Text.—  

Translation.  —  "  The  adventures  of  Connla  the  Comely,  son 
of  Conn  the  Hundred-Fighter,  here.  Whence  the  name  of 
Art  the  Lone  One  ?  [Art  the  son  of  Conn,  who  was  called  '  Art 
the  Lone  One  '  after  his  brother  Connla_had  been  taken  away  by 


40  A  child's  history  of  IEELAND.         [chap.  VI. 

Mortals  wlio  were  broue;lit  to  Fairyland  never  grew 
older  ;  and  they  passed  the  time  there  so  pleasantly, 
that  perhaps  a  whole  century  passed  away  when  they 
thought  it  was  only  about  a  year. 

These  were  the  beliefs  and  practices  that  passed  for 
religion  among  the  pagan  Irish.  Eut  so  far  as  we  can 
judge  fi'om  the  information  that  has  come  down  to  us, 
it  hardly  deserved  the  name  of  a  religion  at  all ;  for 
it  was  without  any  settled  general  fonn  of  worship,  it 
did  not  lay  down  any  rules  of  duty  or  conduct,  and  it 
had  no  influence  in  making  people  lead  better  lives. 


CHAPTER   YI. 

GOVEENMEIfT    AND    LAW. 

.HE  Clan  or  Tribe  System  prevailed  in  Ire- 
land, as  it  did  in  all  other  countries  of 
Europe  in  early  ages.  A  Clan  or  Sept 
consisted  of  a  number  of  families  all  of 
one  kindi^ed,  living  in  the  same  district, 
and  generally  bearing  the  same  family  name,  such  as 

the  fairy].  Not  difficult  to  answer.  On  a  certain  day  as  Connla 
of  the  Gohlen  Ilair,  son  of  Conn  the  Hundred-Fighter,  stood 
beside  his  father  on  the  I J  ill  of  Ushnagh,  he  saw  a  lady  in  strange 
attire  coming  towards  him.  ('onnla  spoke  :  *  Whence  liast  thou 
come,  0  lady,'  he  says.  'I  have  come,'  replied  the  lady,  'from 
the  land  of  the  ever-living,  a  place  where  there  is  neither  death, 
nor  sin,  nor  transgression.  "We  have  continual  feasts  :  we  prac- 
tise every  benevolent  M:ork  without  contention.  We  dwell  in  a 
large  Shee ;  and  hence  we  are  called  the  People  of  the  Faiiy- 
Mound.'  '  To  whom  art  thou  speaking,  my  boy?'  says  Conn  to 
his  son :  for  no  one  saw  the  lady  save  Connla  only."  This  story 
will  be  found  fully  translated  in  my  "  Old  Celtic  Romances." 


CHAP.  VI.  J  GOVERNMENT  AND  LAW.  41 

O'Donnell  or  MacCarthy.  A  Tribe  was  a  larger  group, 
consisting  of  several  clans  or  septs,  all  more  or  less 
distantly  related  to  each  other.  A  tribe  occupied  a 
territory,  of  which  each  sept  had  a  separate  district, 
without  interference  by  other  septs  of  the  same  tribe. 
Over  each  tribe,  as  well  as  over  each  sept,  there  was  a 
chief,  and  the  chief  of  the  tribe  had  authority  over 
those  of  the  several  septs  under  him.  If  the  tenitory 
occupied  by  a  tribe  was  very  large,  the  chief  was  a  ri,"^' 
or  king.  Sometimes  a  king  ruled  over  two  or  more 
tribes. 

From  a  very  early  time,  Ireland  was  partitioned  into 
five  provinces : — Ulster,  Leinster,  Munster,  Connaught, 
and  Meath.  Ulster,  in  its  coast  line,  extended  from  the 
Eoyne  round  northwards  to  the  little  river  Drowes, 
which  issues  fi'om  Lough  Melvin,  and  flows  between  the 
counties  of  Donegal  and  Leitrim :  Leinster  fi^om  the 
Boyne  to  the  mouth  of  the  Suir  :  Munster  from  the  Suir 
round  southwards  to  the  Shannon :  Connaught  from 
the  Shannon  to  the  Drowes.  The  pro^^nce  of  Meath, 
which  was  the  last  formed  (see  pp.  51,  58),  was  much 
larger  than  the  present  two  counties  of  Meath  and  West- 
meath  :  it  extended  from  the  Shannon  eastward  to  the 
sea  ;  and  from  the  confines  of  the  present  King's  County 
and  county  Xildare  on  the  south,  to  the  confines  of 
Fermanagh  and  Ai-magh  on  the  north.  Subsequently 
there  were  some  changes.  Clare  was  wrested  from 
Connaught  and  added  to  Munster ;  and  Louth  was  trans- 
fciTed  fi'om  Ulster  to  Leinster.  Finally,  in  the  later 
subdivisions  of  the  country,  Meath  disappeared  altogether 
as  a  province,  and  the  four  older  provinces  still  remain. 

*  Pronounced  ree.  Henceforward  the  pronunciation  of  Irish 
words  will  be  given  in  brackets  whenever  necessary, 


4^ 


A  child's  history  of  IRELAND.         [cUAR.  VI. 


Over  each  province  there  was  a  ri  or  king;  and 
tlicTe  was  a  king  over  all  Ireland  who  was  called  the 
Ard-ri,  i.e.  the  ''over-king"  or  supreme  monarch. 
The  Ard-ri  lived  at  Tara  till  its  abandonment  in  the 
sixth  century,  and  the  province  of  Meath  always 
belonged  to  him,  to  enable  him  to  maintain  his  court 
with  due  dignity.  Besides  this,  he  received — or  was 
supposed  to  receive — tribute  from  the  provincial  kings 
to  support  his  annies  and  defray  other  expenses  of 
government.     The  kings  of  the  provinces  were  in  like 


Irish    Kings  and  Archers,  13th  century.     From  frescoes  in  Abbey  Knockmoy,  Gahvay. 
"  Dublin  Penny  Journal,"  1832,  pp.  228,  229.     Drawn  by  Petrie. 

manner  paid  tribute  by  the  kings  or  chiefs  of  their 
several  tribes,  or  sub-kingdoms ;  and  these  again  were 
partly  supported  by  payments  fi'om  their  subordinate 
chiefs  and  heads  of  households.  As  the  Aixl-ri  had 
Meath,  as  "  Mensal  land,"  for  his  personal  expenses,  so 
each  king  and  chief,  from  the  highest  grade  to  tlie 
lowest,  had  a  tract  of  land  for  life,  or  as  long  as  he 
continued  chief,  for  the  support  of  his  household,  along 
with  the  payments  he  received  from  those  under  him. 
This  land,  on  his  death,  went,  not  to  his  family,  but  to 
his  successor  in  the  chicfship  ;    a  custom  which  was 


CSAP.  YI.]  GOTEENMENT  AND  LAW.  43 

called  Tanistry.  A  king  sat  on  a  throne  and  wore  a 
crown  on  state  occasions  :  he  was  richly  di-essed,  and  had 
great  numbers  of  attendants. 

Every  tenant  of  land,  and  most  heads  of  homesteads 
of  whatever  business,  had  to  pay  contributions  to  the 
chief.  These  were  not  in  money,  for  there  was  little  or 
no  coined  money  in  those  times,  but  in  kind,  viz.  cattle, 
corn,  pigs,  butter,  wine,  clothing,  handmade  articlc?- 
&c.,  and  sometimes  gold  and  silver  weighed  out  by  the 
ounce.  Some  of  the  land  tenants  were  independent 
and  well  to  do  ;  and  some,  on  the  other  hand,  were 
dependent  and  bound  down  by  hard  conditions  to  their 
chief.  JMany  of  these  latter  tenants  had  to  receive  the 
chief  and  his  attendants  on  visitation,  and  to  supply 
them  with  food  and  di'ink  during  the  time  they  stayed: 
Food  and  diink  given  in  this  way  was  called  coiney  ; 
and  the  number  of  followers,  the  time,  and  the  kind 
of  food,  were  carefully  regulated  by  the  Erehon  Law. 
But  it  was  a  bad  and  a  dangerous  custom. 

In  later  times  the  Anglo -Irish  lords  imitated  and 
abused  this  regulation  by  what  was  called  Coyne  and 
Livery.  A  military  leader,  when  he  had  no  money  to 
pay  his  soldiers,  turned  them  out  with  arms  in  their 
hands  among  the  English  colonists  (seldom  among  the 
old  Irish)  to  pay  themselves  in  money  and  food.  This 
was  Coyne  and  Liveiy.  There  were  here  no  rules  laid 
down,  as  there  were  for  comey  ;  and  the  soldiers,  being 
under  no  restraint,  plundered  and  oppressed  the  people, 
and  committed  many  other  crimes.  Bad  as  the  Irish 
coiney  was,  Coyne  and  Livery  was  much  worse  :  and  at 
one  time  it  was  so  constantly  carried  on  that  it  almost 
ruined  the  English  settlement  of  the  Pale  round  Dublin. 

The  king  or  chief  was  always  taken  from  the  members 
of  one  ruling  family  of  the  tribe  or  clan,  that  member 


44  A  CHILD  S  HISTORY  OF  IKELAND.         [ciIAT.  Vt. 

being  chosen  wlio  was  considered  best  able  to  govern 
and  lead,  in  peace  and  war  (which  would  of  course 
exclude  children)  :  and  he  should  be  free  from  bodily 
deformity  or  any  well-marked  personal  blemish.  He 
might  be  son,  brother,  cousin,  or  any  other  relative  of 
the  last  chief ;  and  he  was  elected  by  the  votes  of  the 
principal  men.  Very  often,  during  the  life  of  a  king  or 
chief,  a  person  was  elected  to  succeed  him,  in  order  to 
prevent  quarrels  whenever  a  vacancy  should  occur. 
This  person  was  called  the  Tanist,  and  he  stood  next 
to  the  king  in  rank.  The  king,  of  whatever  gi-ade, 
was  not  absolute  :  he  could  not  decide  on  any  imj)ortant 
matter  concerning  the  tribe  or  territory  without  con- 
sulting and  obtaining  the  consent  of  the  principal  men  ; 
which  was  usually  done  at  one  of  the  meetings  described 
at  page  31. 

The  Irish  kings  seldom  kept  standing  armies ;  but 
the  men  of  the  tribe  were  called  on,  as  occasions  arose, 
to  serve  in  war ;  and  when  the  campaign  or  expedition 
was  over,  they  retui'ned  to  their  homes.  They  did  not 
use  cavalry  in  war ;  but  on  marches  the  chief  leaders 
rode  at  the  head  of  their  men.  AVe  do  not  find  cavalry 
mentioned  on  either  side  at  the  battle  of  Clontarf .  The 
Irish  had,  however,  horse  soldiers  for  special  ser^-ices, 
each  of  whom  had  two  attendants  : — a  man  to  look  after 
his  arms  and  accoutrements,  and  a  boy  to  attend  to  the 
horse ;  as  shown  at  the  end  of  this  chapter. 

Two  kinds  of  foot-soldiers  were  employed: — Gallo- 
glasses  and  Kern.  The  galloglasses  were  hea\y-armed 
soldiers.  They  wore  a  coat  of  mail  and  an  iron  helmet ; 
a  long  sword  hung  by  the  side,  and  in  the  hand  was  car- 
ried a  broad,  heavy,  keen-edged  axe.  They  are  described 
as  large-limbed,  tall,  and  fierce  looking,  and  were  noted 
for  their  dexterity  in  the  use  of  the  battle-axe,  against 


CHAP.  YI.] 


GOVERNilENT  AND  LAW. 


45 


which  neither  armour  nor  helmet  was  a  sufficient  pro- 
tection. .  Besides  the  broad  axe  used  by  the  galloglasses, 
another  kind  of  axe  called  a  sparth  was  in  use,  long, 
narrow,   and  yery  sharp.      Dermot  Mac  MuiTogh,  as 


BS»— Si^?5^'5F 


GaUogIa 


Painted  figure  on  a  Charter  of  Queen  Elizabeth  to  City  of  Dublin,  1582. 
From  Gilbert's  "  Fac-Sim.  Nat.  MSS." 


figiu^ed  at  p.  130,  has  a  sparth,  and  so  has  the  soldier 
shown  at  p.  137. 

The  Irish  never  took  to  armoui'  very  generally,  but 
preferred  to  fight  in  saffron  linen  tunics,  which  lost 
them  many  a  battle  when  contending  against  the  Danes 
and  Anglo-Normans.  The  Kern  were  light-armed :  they 
wore  head  pieces,  and  fought  with  a  shean^  i.e.  a  dagger 


46  A  child's  history  of  ieeland.      [chap.  yi. 

or  short  sword,  a  small  bow,  and  a  javelin  attached  to 
a  thong. 

The  gradation  of  authority  among  the  kings  and 
chiefs  seemed  perfect : — The  monarch  of  Ireland  ruled 
over  the  provincial  kings ;  the  provincial  kings  over  the 
kings  of  tribes ;  and  these  over  the  chiefs  of  clans.  But 
it  was  perfect  only  in  name.  The  supreme  monarch  was 
never  able  to  enforce  his  authority  over  the  provincial 
kings,  who  in  their  turn  were  often  defied  by  their  sub- 
kings.  The  several  kings  and  chiefs  were  seldom  under 
proper  control;  and  they  were  continually  quarrelling 
and  fighting.  This  constant  state  of  warfare  kept  the 
people  in  misery  wherever  it  went  on.  The  kings  and 
chiefs  could  seldom  be  brought  to  unite  heartily  for  any 
common  purpose  ;  so  that  invaders  from  over  sea  were 
able  to  make  lodgments  without  meeting  with  any 
serious  opposition.  It  should  be  remarked  however 
that  in  this  respect  the  people  of  Ireland  were  not 
worse  than  those  of  other  countries  at  the  corresponding 
period  :  the  minor  kings  and  chiefs  of  England  were  just 
as  bad  in  the  time  of  the  Heptarchy.  Eut  in  England  it 
so  happened  that  the  kings  of  one  particular  state  grew 
so  powerful  that  they  at  length  mastered  all  the  others, 
and  became  the  undisputed  kings  of  all  England.  In 
Ireland  no  doubt  something  of  the  same  kind  would  in 
the  end  have  come  to  pass ;  but  before  things  had  time 
to  work  themselves  out  in  this  manner,  the  Danish 
incursions  and  the  Anglo-J^orman  invasion  came  and 
changed  the  whole  fortunes  of  the  country. 

We  have  seen  that  the  people  belonging  to  each  sept 
of  a  tribe  had  a  tract  of  land  set  apart]  for  themselves. 
A  small  part  of  this  land  was  the  private  property  of 
individuals :  all  the  rest  was  Tribe-land  or  Sept-land, 
that  is,  it  belonged  not  to  individuals  but  to  the  sept  in 


CHAP.  VI.]  GOVEENMENT  AND  LAW.  47 

general.  Eacli  head  of  a  family  had  a  farm  for  the  time 
being  ;  but  every  three  or  foui'  years  there  was  a  new 
distribution  of  the  sept-land  (without  disturbing  that  of 
the  neighboui'ing  septs),  when  the  people  had  to  give 
up  their  farms  and  take  others  :  which  generally  hap- 
pened on  the  death  of  one  of  the  householders  who  had 
land.  This  custom  was  called  Gavelkind :  but  it  was 
not  a  good  plan  :  it  prevented  improvements ;  for  no 
man  will  di'ain,  or  fence,  or  subsoil  land  that  he  may 
have  to  give  up  in  a  few  years.  A  somewhat  different 
sort  of  Gavelkind  prevailed  in  Wales  and  England,  and 
exists  in  a  modified  foiTQ  at  the  present  time  in  Kent. 
Another  part  of  the  land  occupied  by  the  sept  was 
Commons,  that  is,  waste  land,  such  as  mountain,  bog, 
or  wood,  which  was  not  assigned  to  any  individuals  in 
particular,  but  which  every  householder  of  the  sept  had 
a  right  to  use  for  grazing,  fuel,  hunting,  and  such  like 
pui'poses. 

The  ancient  law  of  Ireland,  which  grew  up  gradually 
in  the  course  of  ages,  is  now  commonly  called  the 
Brehon  Law;  and  the  judges  who  tried  and  decided 
cases  were  called  Brehons.  To  become  a  brehon  a 
person  had  to  imdergo  a  long  and  carefully  arranged 
coui'se  of  training,  under  masters  who  were  themselves 
skilled  brehons.  Injmies  of  all  kinds  as  between  man 
and  man  were  atoned  for  by  a  compensation  payment. 
Homicide,  or  bodily  injury  of  any  kind,  whether  by 
intent  or  by  misadventure,'  was  atoned  for  by  a  money 
fine,  called  an  eric  [er'rick] :  the  amount  was  adjudged 
by  a  brehon.  The  brehons  had  collections  of  laws  in 
volumes,  m  the  Irish  language,  by  which  they  regu- 
lated theii-  judgments.  Many  of  these  old  volumes, 
all  in  beautiful  handwriting,  are  still  preserved,  and 
several  of  them  have  lately  been  published  with  English 


48 


A  child's  history  of  IRELAND.       [ciJAP.  VII. 


translations.  The  Brehon  Law  came  down  from  a  time 
beyond  the  reach  of  history ;  and  it  continued  to  be 
used  pretty  generally  till  the  beginning  of  the  seven- 
teenth century,  when  it  was  abolished  by  act  of  par- 
liament, and  English  law  was  extended  to  the  whole 
of  Ireland. 


Horse  Soldier  with  attendant  and  horseboy.    From  Derrick's 
"  Image  of  Ireland  "  :  1578. 


CHAPTEE   YIL 


THE    LEGENDS. 


have  no  means  of  finding  out  for 
a  certainty  how  Ireland  was  first 
peopled.  It  is  highly  probable 
that  part  at  least  of  its  earliest 
colonists  came  across  the  narrow 
sea  from  Great  Britain,  which 
had  been  itself  colonised  by  some  of  the  Celtic  tribes 
that  in  those  days  occupied  a  large  part  of  the  west  of 


CHAP.  Til.]  THE  LEGENDS.  49 

Eui'ope.  There  is  good  reason  to  believe  that  other 
colonies  came  hither  direct  from  the  Continent,  some 
from  Spain  and  some  from  Greece.  All  these  move- 
ments however  took  place  long  before  the  time  when 
oui'  regular  history  began.  Eut,  though  those  far  dis- 
tant ages  are  beyond  the  ken  of  History,  we  have  in 
our  old  books — the  manuscript  books  already  spoken 
of — plenty  of  legends  about  them,  that  is  to  say, 
stories  partly  or  wholly  fabulous,  handed  down  by 
word  of  mouth  in  the  beginning  for  many  generations, 
and  at  last  committed  to  wi'iting.  It  is  more  than  a 
thousand  years  ago  since  these  old  stories  began  to  be 
written  down,  though  all  are  not  so  old  as  that.  Some 
of  them  have  doubtless  a  foundation  of  truth  at  bottom  ; 
for  in  most  of  the  places  wl  ere  they  tell  us  that  battles 
were  fought,  or  that  other  remarkable  events  took  place, 
there  are  to  this  day  old  graves,  cairns,  pillar-stones, 
burial  mounds,  raths,  and  other  monuments  of  earth 
and  stone  :  ji;st  such  marks  and  tokens  as  might  be 
expected. 

The  Legends  relate  at  great  length  how  Five  suc- 
cessive Colonies  arrived  in  Ireland  many  centuries 
before  the  Christian  Era  ;  and  in  the  Eook  of  Leinster 
and  other  ancient  manuscripts  there  are  great  numbers 
of  beautiful  stories  about  the  people  of  these  colonies, 
their  wanderings  and  adventures  before  their  arrival  in 
Ireland,  and  the  mighty  deeds  of  their  heroes.  Iso 
person  can  understand  ancient  Irish  literature  who  does 
not  know  something  of  these  legends. 

The  First  Colojiij. — The  leader  of  the  first  was  Par- 
thalon,  who  came  hither  from  Greece  with  a  thousand 
followers.  He  took  up  his  abode  at  fii^st  on  the  little 
island  of  Inish-Samer  in  the  river  Erne,  just  below  the 
waterfall  of  Assaroe  at  Ballyshannon  (see  p.  57).     But 


50  A  child's  niSTOllY  OF  IRELAND.       [cHAP.  VII. 

after  some  time  lie  and  his  people  left  tliis  place  and 
made  tlieir  way  south-east  through  forest  and  bog  till 
they  reached  the  east  coast.  At  that  time  the  plain  on 
which  Dublin  now  stands,  extending  from  Tallaght  to 
]3en-Edar  or  Howth,  was  open  and  free  from  the  dense 
forests  that  clothed  the  country  all  round.  And  it  was 
tio  sunny  and  pleasant  that  immense  flocks  of  birds  used 
to  come  every  day  from  the  neighbouring  forests  to 
bask  in  the  bright  warm  sunshine ;  so  that  it  came  to 
be  known  by  the  name  of  Moy-Elta,  the  Plain  of  the 
Bird-flocks.  On  this  plain  the  Parthalonians  took  up 
their  abode ;  and  here  they  increased  and  multiplied ;  till 
at  the  end  of  three  hundred  years  they  were  all  carried 
off  in  one  week  by  a  plague. 

The  legend  goes  on  to  tell  that  they  were  buried  at 
Tallaght ;  and  here  we  come  upon  some  solid  facts  that 
seem  to  lend  an  air  of  reality  to  parts  of  this  shadowy 
old  story.  AYe  know  that  the  name  Tallaght,  or,  as  it 
is  written  in  Irish,  Tamlacht,  ^i^i^a^ plague-grave ;  and 
on  the  slope  of  Tallaght  Hill  there  are  still  to  be  seen 
a  number  of  rude  stone  graves  and  burial  mounds. 

The  Second  Colony. — After  the  destruction  of  Par- 
thalon's  people  Ireland  remained  a  solitude  for  thirty 
years,  till  the  Nemedians  came  hither  from  Scythia, 
imder  the  leadership  of  ]N"emed.  These  people  were 
harassed  by  a  race  of  fierce  sea-robbers  from  Scandi- 
navia called  Fomorians  ;  and  so  many  battles  were 
fought  between  them  that  very  few  of  either  party 
sui'vived.  One  ship's  crew  of  iS'emedians  fled  over  the 
sea  to  Greece,  whence  after  a  lapse  of  several  hundred 
years,  their  descendants  under  the  names  of  Firbolgs 
and  Dedannans,  made  their  way  back  to  Ireland. 

The  Third  Colo7iy. — The  Firbolgs,  who  sprang  from 
one  branch  of  the  Kemedians,  came  first,  fleeing  fi'om 


CHAP,  yn.]  TSE  LEGENi)g.  51 

the  oppression  of  the  Greeks  in  a  number  of  the  king's 
ships  they  had  seized :  and  having  landed  in  Ireland, 
their  leaders,  the  five  sons  of  Dela,  partitioned  the 
country  into  five  provinces."^"  This  ancient  division  has 
survived  with  some  alterations  to  the  present  day.  The 
Firbolgs  held  sway  for  only  thirty-six  years,  when  they 
were  conquered  by  the  next  colony.  After  their  defeat 
at  Moytui^a,  as  described  on  next  page,  they  retreated 
to  the  remote  parts  of  Connaught,  where  they  erected 


Jik.  ^i 


^^^ 


Dun-Aengus  on  the  Great  Island  of  Aran,  on  the  edge  of  a  cliff  overhanging 
the  sea :  circular  Firbolg  caher :  without  mortar :  the  standing  stones  were  in- 
tended to  prevent  a  rush  of  a  body  of  enemies.  Drawn  for  Dr.  Wilde  ;  published 
in  "Arch.  Cambr.,"  1858:  and  subsequently  in  Wilde's  "Lough  Corrib." 

those  immense  stone  forts,  some  on  the  Aran  Islands 
and  some  on  the  adjacent  mainland,  many  of  which 
still  remain  and  excite  the  wonder  of  all  that  see  them. 
The  descendants  of  these  Firbolgs,  who  are  described 
as  a  small,  dark-haired,  swarthy  race,  were  distinguish- 
able in  Connaught  down  to  comparatively  recent  times. 

.  *  The.se  five  were,  Leiu.ster,  Ulster,  Connaught,  an-i  the  two 
Munsters  (East  and  West:  meeting  at  Cork).  The  two  Mimsters 
soon  merged  into  one  ;  and  in  the  second  century  the  province  of 
Meath  was  created,  still  making  five  (see  pages  41,  58).  A  better 
known  subdivision  of  Munster  M'as  into  Thomond  or  Nortli 
Munster  (roughly  including  Limerick,  Clare,  and  Tipperary), 
and  Desmond  or  South  Munster  (Kerry,  Cork,  and  Waterford). 
e2 


52 


A  child's  niSTOEY  OF  IHELAND.       [cHAP.  VIl. 


Tlie  Fourth  Colony. — The  Dedannans,  who  were  tlie 
descendants  of  another  branch  of  the  Is'cmedians,  dwelt 
near  Athens  in  Greece  for  many  p:enerations ;  and  they 
learned  magic  from  the  Greeks  till  they  became  better 
magicians  than  their  masters.  They  Avero  forced  to 
flee  from  Greece,  fearing  the  vengeance  of  some  on 
whom  they  had  exercised  their  wonderful  spells ;  and 
faring  slowly  for  generations  through  the  north  of 
Europe,  they  at  length  arrived  on  the  north  coast  of 
Ireland,  under  the  command  of  their  mighty  chief 
iruada  of  the  Silver  Hand.  As  soon  as  they  had  landed 
they  bimied  their  ships  ;  and  shrouding  themselves  in 
a  magic  fog,  so  that  the  Firbolgs  could  not  see  them, 
they  marched  unperceived  to  Slieve-an-Ierin,  a  moun- 
tain in  the  present  county  Leitrim.    And  they  sent  one 


Cromlech  on  Moytirra  ;  near  north-east  shore  of  Lough  Arrow,  Sligo. 
From  AVood-Martin's  "  Pagan  Ireland." 


of  their  champions  to  the  Firbolgs  with  a  demand  either 
to  yield  up  the  sovereignty  of  the  country  or  fight  for  it. 
The  Fii'bolgs  chose  battle ;  and  the  two  annies  fought 
for  foui'  successive  days  on  the  plain  of  South  Moytura 
near  Cong.     The   Pirbolgs  were   defeated,  theii'  king 


CHAP,  vn.] 


THE  LEGENDS. 


53 


was  slain,  and  the  Dedannans  remained  masters  of  the 
island. 

The  Fomorians  still  continued  to  plague  the  country ; 
and  twenty-seven  years  after  the  battle  of  South  Moy- 
tura,  a  battle  was  fought  between  them  and  the  Dedan- 
nans at  ^N'orth  Moytura  near  Sligo,  where  the  Fomorians 
were  defeated  and  all  their  chief  men  slain. 
The  two  plains  of  Moytura  are  well  known, 
and  both  are  covered  all  over  with  cairns, 
cromlechs,  and  other  sepulchral  monuments, 
the  relics  of  two  great  battles.  Moreover 
the  northern  battlefield  still  retains  its  old 
name  in  the  form  of  Moytirra. 

These  mysterious  Dedannans 
were  celebrated  not  only  as  ma- 
gicians, but  also  as  skilled  arti- 
sans in  metal,  wood,  and  stone. 
Many  beautifully-formed  bronze 
spear-heads,  thought  to  be  of 
their  workmanship,  are  preserved 
in  the  jS'ational  Museum,  Dublin  ; 
they  are  long  and  slender :  while 
those  ascribed  by  tradition  to 
the  Firbolgs  are  less  graceful, 
and  are  rounded  at  the  point. 

The  chief  biuial  place  of  these 
people  was  along  the  Boyne  be- 
tween Drogheda  and  Slane,  where 
many  monuments  still  remain, 
the  principal  of  which  are  the 
three  great  mounds  of  jS'ewgrange, 
In  subsequent  ages  the  Dedan- 
nans were  deified  and  became  Shee  or  fairies  whom 
the  pagan  Irish  worshipped  (page  37). 


No. 


No.  2. 


I.— Supposed  Dedannan  Spear- 
head. 2.  —  Supposed  Firbolg 
Spear  -  head.  Both  of  bronze, 
and  in  the  National  Museum. 
From  Wilde's  Catalogue. 


Dowth,  and  Knowth. 


54  A  child's  histort  of  theland.     [chap.  ytt. 

The  Fifth  Colony.  — Tha  legends  dwell  with  fond 
minuteness  on  the  origin,  the  wanderings,  and  the  ad- 
ventures of  this  last  and  greatest  of  the  Irish  colonies. 
From  Scythia,  their  original  home,  began  their  long 
pilgrimngc  :  and  having  wandered  from  one  country  to 
another  for  many  generations,  seeking  for  Inisfail — the 
"Isle  of  Destiny" — their  final  home,  of  which  one  of 
their  di'uids  had  told  them,  they  settled  in  Spain,  from 
which,  after  a  long  sojoui^n,  they  migrated  to  Ireland. 
They  were  led  by  the  eight  sous  of  the  hero  Miled  of 
Spain  [Mee-le],  or  Milesius,  whence  they  were  called 
Milesians. 

Sailing  into  the  mouth  of  the  Slaney,  they  were 
di-iven  to  sea  by  the  spells  of  the  Dedannans,  and  finally 
landed  at  Inver-Skena  or  Kenmare  Bay.  Marching 
northwards  to  Tara,  they  there  met  the  three  kings  of 
the  Dedannans,  and  demanded  from  them  the  surrender 
of  the  country  or  battle.  But  the  cunning  Dedannans 
pretended  that  they  had  been  taken  unawares  and  treated 
unfairly,  and  demanded  judgment  in  the  matter.  The 
dispute  was  referred  to  Amergin,  one  of  the  eight 
brothers,  who  was  the  chief  di'uid  or  brehon  of  the 
Milesians.  ^^Tow  this  cbuid  delivered  what  he  believed 
to  be  a  just  judgment  even  against  his  own  people : 
namely,  that  the  Milesians  should  re-embark  at  Inver- 
Skena  and  retire  nine  waves  from  shore  ;  and  if  after 
this  they  could  make  good  their  landing,  the  countiy 
should  be  given  up  to  them.  And  to  this  both  parties 
agreed.  But  no  sooner  had  the  ships  got  nine  waves 
out  than  the  Dedannans  raised  a  fuiious  tempest  by 
their  magical  spells,  which  wrecked  the  fleet  and 
di^owned  five  of  the  brothers.  The  remaining  thi'ee, 
Eremon,  Eber-Finn,  and  Amergin,  landed  with  their 
crews,   and  having   defeated  the  Dedannans  in  two 


CHAP.  Vn.]  THE  LEGENDS.  55 

great  battles,  took  possession  of  the  country.  Eremon 
was  their  fii'st  king;  and  thenceforward  Ireland  was 
ruled  by  a  succession  of  Milesian  kings  till  the  reign 
of  Roderick  0' Conor  who  was  the  last  native  over- 
king.  From  these  Milesian  people  descend  all  those 
of  the  modern  Irish  who  have  or  had  an  *'  0  "  or  a 
"  Mac  "  to  their  surname. 

In  the  legendary  pages  of  oiu'  old  records,  the  first 
kings  of  those  dim  ages  pass  indistinctly  in  review 
before  us,  and  we  hardly  know  whether  to  regard  them 
as  mere  shadows  or  real  personages.  Tigernmas  [Teern- 
mas]  was  the  first  to  have  gold  regularly  mined  and 
worked ;  chiefly  in  the  gold  district  near  the  LifPey 
mentioned  at  page  4.  He  distinguished  his  people  by 
the  number  of  colours  in  their  garments,  from  the  slave 
who  had  only  one  coloui-,  to  the  king  who  had  six. 
King  Tigernmas  was  suddenly  destroyed  on  Samin  eve 
— the  eve  of  the  first  of  jS'ovember — in  some  mysterious 
way,  with  a  multitude  of  his  people,  while  worshipping 
the  great  idol  Crom  Cruach  (page  37). 

From  the  earliest  times  of  which  we  have  any  record, 
it  was  the  custom  to  hold  a  Fes  or  meeting  at  Tara,  the 
residence  of  the  Ard-ri,  where  the  nobles  and  learned  men 
of  the  whole  country  met,  with  the  Ard-ri  at  their  head, 
to  examine  the  laws  and  records  of  the  kingdom,  and  to 
transact  other  important  business.  The  proceedings 
were  written  down  in  a  book  called  the  Psalter  of  Tara ; 
but  this  book,  if  it  ever  existed,  was  lost  or  destroyed 
ages  ago.  According  to  the  legend,  the  Fes  was  insti- 
tuted by  the  mighty  King  Ollamh  Foclla  [OIlav  Fola], 
who  reigned  two  or  three  centuries  after  Tigernmas. 
It  was  held  for  some  days  before  and  after  Samin  or 
the  first "^f  November;  and  the  intention  was  to  sum- 
mon it  every  third  year.     But  this  intention  was  not 


5G 


A  child's  history  of  IRELAND.       [CHAP.  TH. 


carried  out,  for  in  reality  it  ■was  lield  only  at  irregular 
intervals  :  generally  at  the  beginning  of  each  king's 
reign,  and  occasionally  at  other  times,  when  any  im- 
portant business  required  it.  It  is  necessary  to  obsei've 
that  the  holding  of  the  Fes  of  Tara  is  not  mere  legend, 
but  a  historical  fact.  Tara  was  abandoned  as  a  royal 
residence  in  the  sixth  centuiy ;  but  extensive  remains 
of  mounds  and  raths  are  still  to  be  seen  on  and  around 
the  hill,  one  of  which  is  figui^ed  here. 


The  Mound  called  the  Forra,  at  Tara.    From  Mrs.  Hall's  "  Ireland.' 
Drawn  by  Wakeman. 

About  three  centuiies  before  the  Christian  era,  Macha 
of  the  Golden  Hair,  queen  of  Cimhaeth  [Kimbay]  king 
of  Ulster,  built  the  palace  of  Emain  or  Emania,  which 
continued  to  be  the  residence  of  the  kings  of  Ulster 
for  more  than  six  himdi-ed  years.  The  remains  of  this 
palace,  consisting  of  a  great  mound  suiTounded  by 
earthen  ramparts,  now  called  the  Xavan  Fort,  are  to  be 
seen  two  miles  from  Armagh.  At  the  beginning  of  the 
Christian  era,  when  Conary  I.  was  king  of  Ireland,  the 
Red  Branch  Knights  of  Ulster,  a  sort  of  heroic  militia, 
mighty  men  all,  came  every  year  to  Emain  to  be 
trained  in  military  science  and  feats  of  arms,  residing 
for  the  time  in  a  separate  palace  called  Creeveroe  or  the 
Red  Branch.  Their  greatest  commander  was  Cuculainn, 
the  mightiest  of  all  the  Irish  heroes  of  antiquity,  whose 


CHAP.  VIII.]  THE  DAWNT  OF  HISTORY.  57 

residence  was  Dundalgan,  now  called  the  Fort  of 
Castletown  near  Dundalk.  Tliey  were  in  the  service 
of  Concobar  or  Conor  Mac  Nessa,  king  of  Lister,  who 
feasted  the  leading  heroes  every  day  in  his  own  palace. 
The  finest  of  the  Romantic  Stories  in  the  Book  of  the 
Dun  Cow,  the  Book  of  Leinster,  and  other  old  manu- 
scripts, are  about  those  Bed  Branch  Knights. 


Inish-Samer  (see  page  49).    House  on  top  modern. 


CHAPTER  YIII. 


THE    DAWIs"    OF    HISTORY. 
A.D.   130-463.) 

LTHOUGH   our   narrative   is   not  yet   free 

from   legend,    the   matters   related   in 

this    chapter  may  for   the   most    part 

be  taken  as  fact. 

Several  very  important  events  took  place  dui'ing  the 

reign  of  Tuathal  [Too'hal]  the  Legitimate,  a  powerful 

king  of  Ireland,  who  reigned  from  a.d.  130  to  160. 


58 


A  CniID*S  HISTORY  OF  IRELAND.     [cHAP.  Vllf. 


About  twenty  years  before  liis  accession,  the  plebeian 
races,  consisting  chiefly  of  the  people  of  the  older 
colonies  who  had  been  reduced  to  slavery  by  the 
Milesians,  rose  up  in  rebellion  and  seized  the  throne, 
murdering  or  banishing  the  members  of  the  reigning 
family,  and  a  great  part  of  the  nobles  of  the  country. 
Eut  the  Milesian  monarchy  was  restored  in  the  person 
of  Tuathal,  who  from  this  circumstance  was  surnamed 
"the  Legitimate."  Hitherto  the  Ard-ri  had  for  his 
land  allowance  only  a  small  tract  round  Tara  ;  but 
Tuathal  formed  the  province  of  Meath  (pages  41,  51) 


Aill-na-meeraii  the  Stone  of  the  Divisions.    Now  often  called  the  Cat's  Rock. 
Photograph. 

to  be  the  special  estate  or  mensal  land  of  the  kings  of 
Ireland  for  ever.  At  that  time  the  four  older  pro- 
vinces, Leinster,  Ulster,  Connaught,  and  Munster,  met 
at  a  great  stone  called  the  "  Stone  of  the  Divisions," 


CHAP.  Yin.]  THE  DAT7N  OF  HISTORT. 


59 


which  was  considered  the  centre  of  Ireland,  and 
which  IS  still  to  be  seen  on  the  side  of  the  hill  of 
Ushnagh  in  ^Yestnleath :  and  the  new  province  was 
made  by  cutting  off  a  portion  of  each  of  the  other  four 
round  this  stone. 

One  of  Tuathal's  daughters  was  married  to  the  king 
of  Leinster,  who,  however,  growing  tilled  of  her,  hid 
her  in  a  remote  part  of  his  palace  and  gave  out  that  she 
was  dead.  And  after  due  time  he  went  to  Tara  and 
obtained  fi^om  the  king  his  other  daughter  in  marriage. 
But  one  day,  soon  after  the  return  of  the  newly  married 


vT^f^ 


Dinnree,  the  most  ancient  residence  of  the  kings  of  Leinster.  Now  Bally- 
knoclcan  Fort  on  the  west  bank  of  the  Barrow,  half  a  mile  below  Leighlin- 
bridge,  Carlow.    From  Mrs.  Hall's  "  Ireland." 

couple,  the  two  sisters  met  by  accident,  and  were  so 
overwhelmed  with  astonishment,  grief,  and  shame,  that 
they  both  died  immediately.  To  punish  this  wicked 
crime,  Tuathal  imposed  on  Leinster  a  heavy  tribute  to 
be  paid  eveiy  second  year — many  times  heavier  than 


60  A  child's  history  of  IRELAND.     [cHAP.  VIII 

the  ordinary  tribute  due  from  a  provincial  king  (p.  42). 
AVhether  we  believe  this  half-legendary  account  of  its 
origin  or  not,  one  thing  is  certain  beyond  all  doubt : 
that  fi'om  a  very  remote  period  the  kings  of  Ireland 
claimed  from  Lcinster  an  enormous  tribute  called  the 
Boruma  or  Boru,  consisting  of  cows,  sheep,  hogs, 
mantles,  brazen  caldrons,  and  ounces  of  silver :  a  tribute 
that  brought  gi'eat  disaster  on  the  country,  and  in  the 
end  indeed  helped  to  break  up  the  monarchy.  Every 
householder  in  the  province  had  to  contribute ;  and  the 
tax  was  so  distressing  on  all,  that  it  was  hardly  ever 
paid  without  a  battle :  so  that  the  kings  of  Leinster 
were  always  at  enmity  with  the  kings  of  Ireland,  and 
were  ever  ready  to  takes  sides  against  them.  ^Ve  know 
that  one  of  them  joined  the  Danes  and  was  the  chief 
agent  in  bringing  on  the  battle  of  Clontarf  (see  page 
108);  and  it  is  notorious  how  another — Dermot  Mac 
Murrogh — brought  over  the  Anglo-Xormans  to  invade 
Ireland  (pages  129,  130,  131). 

Conn  the  Hundred-Fighter,  or  as  he  is  often  called, 

Conn  of  the  Hundi-ed  Battles,  who  became  king,  a.d. 

177,  was  a  great,  warlike,  and  active  king, 

A.D.  Itr  as  may  be  judged  fi'om  his  name.  Eut  he 
had  a  formidable  antagonist,  a  man  just 
as  able  and  as  fond  of  fighting  as  himself  :  Owen-More 
king  of  Munster,  otherwise  called  Mogh-Nuadat  [Mow- 
^ooat].  Between  these  two  there  was  constant  war- 
fare for  many  years  :  and  Owen  defeated  his  great  rival 
in  ten  battles,  till  at  last  he  forced  him  to  divide  Ire- 
land equally  between  them.  The  boundary  line  agi'eed 
on  was  a  low  slender  ridge  of  natiu^al  sandhills  called 
^sher-Riada  [Eeeda],  which  still  remains,  running 
across  Ireland  fi'om  Dublin  to  Galway.  This  division 
is  veiy  often  ref en-ed  to  in  Irish  writings :  the  northern 


CHAP.  Tin.]  THE  DA.VrN  OF  HISTORY.  Cl 

half  was  called  Leth-Conn  [Leh  Conn],  that  is,  Conn's 
half ;  and  the  southern  Leth-Mow,  Mow's  half.  Eut 
Owen,  becoming  discontented  with  his  share,  renewed 
the  quarrel ;  and  a  decisive  battle  was  fought  between 
them  at  a  place  called  Moylena,  near  TuUamore  in  the 
present  King's  County,  in  which  the  Munster  king  was 
defeated  and  slain. 

Conn  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Conary  II.,  a.d.  212, 
whose  son  Eiada  [Eeeda]  led  a  colony  to  Scotland,  as 
will  be  related  in  chapter  xiii.  (page  96). 

The  most  illustrious  of  all  the  pagan  kings  of  Ireland 

was  Cormac  Mac  Art,  grandson  of  Conn  the  Hundi'ed- 

Fighter.    He  was  a  great  warrior,  scholar, 

A.D.  251  and  lawmaker,  as  well  as  an  encoui'ager 
of  learning  :  and  the  legendary  accounts 
describe  him  as  a  model  of  majesty,  magnificence,  and 
manly  beauty.  AVe  are  told  that  he  founded  three 
colleges  at  Tara ;  one  for  the  teaching  of  law ;  one  for 
history  and  literatui'e  ;  and  the  third  for  military 
science.  After  a  prosperous  reign  he  retired  from  the 
throne  on  account  of  the  accidental  loss  of  an  eye 
(page  44),  and  took  up  his  residence  in  a  beautiful 
cottage  called  Cletta  on  the  south  bank  of  the  Eoyne 
near  Kewgrange,  where  for  the  rest  of  his  life  he 
devoted  himself  to  learning.  Here  he  composed  a 
number  of  law-books,  of  some  of  which  we  still  have 
copies  in  the  old  Brehon  Law  volumes  (page  47).  The 
legend  says  that  Cormac  became  a  Christian ;  and  that 
his  death  was  brought  about  by  the  druids,  who  prac- 
tised their  wicked  spells  against  him,  and  caused  him  to 
be  choked  by  the  bone  of  a  salmon. 

In  the  time  of  Cormac  floui'ished  the  *'Feiia  of 
Erin,"  a  body  of  militia  kept  for  the  defence  of  the 
thi'one,  very  like  the  lied  Branch  Knights  of  an  earlier 


6^  A  child's  history  of  IRELAND.     [cHAr.  VIII. 

period.  Their  most  celebrated  leader  was  King  Cormac's 
son-in-law,  Finn  the  son  of  Cumal  [Coole],  who  of  all 
the  ancient  heroes  of  Ireland  is  at  the  present  day  best 
remembered  in  tradition.  We  have  in  our  old  manu- 
scripts many  beautiful  stories  of  these  Fena,  like  those 
of  the  Red  Branch  Knights  (page  57). 

r~'  Niall  of  the  Nine  Hostages,  who  reigned  from  a.d. 
379  to  .405,  was  the  most  warlike  and  adventurous 
of  all  the  pagan  kings.  Four  of  his  sons  settled  in 
Meath,  near  Tara,  and  four  others  conquered  a  territoiy 
for  themselves  in  Ulster,  where  they  settled  down. 
The  posterity  of  this  great  king  are  called  Hy  Neill, 
meaning  "descendants  of  Mall";  the  brothers  who 
settled  in  Meath,  and  their  descendants,  were  the 
"  Southern  Hy  jS^eill"  ;  those  who  went  to  Ulster,  and 
their  descendants,  the  "  IS'orthern  Hy  Is^eill."  With 
two  exceptions  (Datlii  and  Olioll  Molt)  all  the  over- 
kings  of  Ireland  from  the  time  of  Niall  down  to  the 
accession  of  Erian  Boru  belonged  to  this  illustrious 
family  of  Hy  Xeill,  who  in  later  ages  took  the  name  of 

^'Neill. 

Those  who  have  read  the  early  history  of  England 
will  remember  that  the  Picts  and  Scots,  marching 
southwards  from  the  Scottish  Highlands,  gave  mucli 
trouble,  year  after  year  for  a  long  period,  to  the 
Ilomans  and  Britons.  The  Picts  were  the  people  of 
Scotland  at  the  time ;  and  the  Scots  were  the  Irish, 
who,  crossing  over  to  Alban  or  Scotland,  joined  the 
Picts  in  their  formidable  raids  southwards.  We  know 
all  this,  not  only  fi'om  oui'  own  native  historians,  but 
also  from  Roman  writers,  who  tell  us  how  the  Romans 
had  often  to  fight  in  Britain  against  the  Scots  from  Ire- 
land. For  at  that  time  Ireland  was  called  (among 
other  names)  Scotia ;  and  the  Irish  people  were  known 


CfiAP.  rnr.]  TttE  iAwK  of  iiistoiit.  63 

as  Scots.  "WTieii,  subsequently,  the  Irish  made  settle- 
ments and  foimded  a  kingdom  in  Scotland — as  will  be 
told  farther  on  (pages  95-97) — Ireland  was  usually 
called  Scotia  Major,  while  Scotland,  whose  old  name 
was  Alhan,  began  to  be  known  as  Scotia  Minor. 
This  continued  till  the  eleventh  or  twelfth  centuiy, 
when  our  own  country  di'opped  the  name  Scotia  and 
was  called  Eirc-lmid,  or  Ireland,  fi"om  the  old  native 
name  JEire  or  Erin ;  and  Alban  came  to  be  known  by 
its  present  name  Scotland,  that  is,  the  land  of  the  Scots 
or  Irish. 

In  those  early  ages  the  Irish  were  very  much  in  the 
habit  of  crossing  the  sea  on  warlike  expeditions ;  and 
they  did  not  confine  their  excursions  to  Scotland.  Long 
before  the  time  of  Kiall,  they  had  conquered  the  Isle  of 
Man  and  a  large  part  of  Wales,  and  many  traces  of  their 
occupation  remain  in  both  places  to  this  day,  such  as 
old  place-names,  old  forts, and  other  monuments.  The 
most  formidable  of  all  the  invaders  was  iS'iall;  and- 
when  the  power  of  the  Eomans  began  to  wane  in 
Britain,  he  led  several  expeditions  against  them.  He 
also  invaded  Gaul ;  and  in  one  of  his  incui'sions  to  that 
countiy,  while  marching  at  the  head  of  his  troops, 
according  to  the  old  legendaiy  account,  he  was  shot 
dead  with  an  arrow  across  the  river  Loire  by  one  of  his 
chiefs,  the  king  of  Leinster  (a.d.  405). 

Xiall's  nephew  Dathi  [Dauhy]  succeeded,  and  was 
the  last  king  of  pagan  Ireland.  He  too  led  expeditions 
into  foreign  lands  i  and  we  read  in  the  old  legend 
that  he  was  struck  dead  by  a  flash  of  lightning  at  llie 
foot  of  the  Alps,  after  he  had  wantonly  destroyed  the 
cell  of  a  holy  hermit  named  Parmenius  (a.d.  428). 
His  followers  brought  his  body  all  the  way  home 
and  bmied  it  in  the  old  cemetery  at  the  palace  of 


64 


A  child's  mSTOET  OF  IRELAND.     [CIIAP.  YlH. 


Croghan,  beside 
llathcroghau, 
in  Roscommon, 
under  a  great 
red  pillar-stone 
which  stands 
there  to  this 
day. 
—    The  next  king 


King  Dathi's  Grave.     From  "  Proceedings,"  Royal  Irish 
Academy,  1879,  page  117 


L 


was  Laegaire 
[Leary]  son  of  Niall  of  the  Kiue  Hostages  :  the  first 
of  the  Hy  Neill  kings  (a.d.  428).  It  was  in  tlie 
fifth  year  of  his  reign  that  St.  Patrick  arrived  in  Ire- 
land to  begin  his  mission,  as  will  be  told  in  the  next 
chapter.  In  an  attempt  to  levy  the  Boruma,  Laegaire 
was  defeated  and  taken  prisoner  by  the  Leinstermen  : 
but  they  set  him  free  after  he  had  sworn  the  old 
pagan  oath,  by  the  sun  and  wind  and  by  all  the 
elements,  that  he  would  never  more  demand  the 
tribute.  Yet  in  less  than  two  years  he  again  led 
his  army  against  them,  determined  this  time  to  exact 
it,  but  died  suddenly  en  his  march.  The  legend  says 
that  it  was  the  sur.   and  wind  that  killed   him   for 

havint;  ^.dolated  his  oath  (page  38).     As 
A.D.  4.63     he  lived  and  died  a  pagan,  he  was  buried, 

in  pagan  fashion,  under  one  of  the  ram- 
parts of  his  own  rath  at  Tara,  standing  up  fully  armed 
in  his  grave,  with  his  face  towards  Leinster  (see  p.  22). 
His  grave  was  made  at  the  south-east  of  the  outer  ram- 
part ;  and  as  the  rath  is  still  well  known,  we  can  point 
out,  almost  with  certainty,  the  exact  spot. 

We  have  now  arrived  at  the  fifth  century  and  shall 
have  little  more  to  do  with  legend  :  we  have,  as  it 
were,    emerged    from    twilight    into    the    open    day. 


CnAP.  Vin.]  THE  DAWN  OF  HISTORY.  65 

Henceforward  the  narrative  is  historical,  and  may  be 
generally  accepted  as  truth. 

The  histoiy  of  pagan  Ireland  ends  here  :  and  so  far 
we  have  di'awn  our  information  regarding  those  ancient 
times  almost  entirely  from  the  native  records.  In  those 
days  of  imperfect  navigation,  Ireland  was  so  remote 
that  foreign  wi'iters  knew  veiy  little  about  it ;  but  the 
few  notices  of  it  they  have  left  us  are  very  important. 
It  was  known  to  the  Phoenicians,  who  probably  visited 
it :  and  Greek  wi'iters  mention  it  under  the  names  of 
lernis  and  lerne  [I-er-ne],  and  as  the  '*  Sacred  Island" 
thickly  inhabited  by  the  Siberni.  The  Greek  geo- 
grapher Ptolemy,  writing  in  the  second  century,  who 
drew  his  information  from  Phoenician  authorities,  has 
given  us  a  description  of  Ireland  much  more  accurate 
than  the  account  he  has  left  us  of  Great  Britain.  And 
that  the  people  of  Ireland  carried  on  a  considerable 
trade  with  foreign  countries  in  those  early  ages  we 
know  from  the  statement  of  the  Koman  historian  Taci- 
tus, that  in  his  time — the  end  of  the  first  century — the 
harboui's  of  Ireland  were  better  known  to  trading 
nations  than  those  of  Britain.  People  that  caiTy  on 
commerce  cannot  be  altogether  barbarous :  and  these 
few  notices  show  that  the  country  had  some  settled 
institutions  and  a  certain  degree  of  civilisation  as  early 
at  least  as  the  beginning  of  the  Chiistian  era.  So  that 
the  native  writers,  with  all  their  legends  and  overdrawn 
pictures  of  ancient  Ireland,  have  some  truth  on  their 
side. 

The  next  foui'  chapters  will  be  devoted  to  a  sketch 
of  the  progress  of  Chiistianity  and  learning  from  the 
time  of  the  arrival  of  St.  Patrick  :  the  secular  History 
will  be  resumed  in  chapter  xni. 


Composed  from  the  Book  of  Kells. 


CHAPTER  IX. 


ST.    PATKICK. — PAKT    I. 


(A.D.  431-433.) 

^EADEES  of  oiu'  caiij  history  know  that  there 
were  Chiistians  in  Ireland  before  the  time 
of  St.  Patrick ;  and  they  must  have  grown 
to  be  pretty  numerous  by  the  beginning 
of  the  fifth  century  :  for  in  the  year  431, 
as  we  are  told  by  a  writer  who  lived  at 
the  time,  Pope  Celestine  sent  Palladius  "  to  the  Scots 
believing  in  Christ  to  be  theii'  first  bishop."  I^ever- 
theless  the  great  body  of  the  Irish  were  at  this  time 
pagans ;  but  Palladius  was  not  the  man  destined  for 
their  conversion.  He  landed  on  the  coast  of  Wicklow ; 
but  after  a  short  sojourn,  during  which  he  visited  some 
Chi'istians  scattered  through  that  district,  and  founded 
three  little  chui'ches,  he  was  expelled  by  the  chief  of 
the  place,  and  died  soon  afterwards  in  Scotland. 

The  next  mission  had  a  very  different  result.  ^N^o 
nation  in  the  world  was  converted  to  Christianity  in  so 
short  a  time  as  the  Irish ;  and  no  missionary,  after  the 
age  of  the  apostles,  preached  the  Gospel  with  more 
success  than  St.  Patrick.  He  was  a  man  of  strong  will 
and  great  courage,  with  much  tact  and  good  sense ;  and 
wherever  he  went,  the  people  he  addi'essed  were  all  the 
more  willing  to  hearken  to  his  preaching  on  account  of 


CHAP.  IX.]  ST.  PATRICK. PAET  I.  67 

the  noble  simplicity  and  purity  of  liis  life.  He  cared 
nothing  for  riches  and  honours  :  but  he  loved  the  people 
of  Ireland,  and  his  -^hole  anxiety  was  to  make  them 
good  Christians.  We  do  not  know  for  certain  his  bii'th- 
place ;  but  the  best  authorities  belieye  he  was  bom  near 
Dumbarton  in  Alban  or  Scotland,  though  others  think 
in  the  west  of  Gaul.  At  that  time  both  Gaul  and 
Britain  were  under  the  Eomans,  and  there  is  evidence 
that  his  family,  whichever  of  the  two  places  they 
belonged  to,  were  Christians,  and  that  they  were  in  a 
respectable  station  of  life ;  for  his  father  Calpum  was  a 
magistrate  in  the  Roman  service. 

^Tien  Patrick  was  a  boy  of  sixteen,  he  was,  as  we  7 
are  told  by  himself  in  his  writings,  taken  captive  and  >^ 
brought  to  Ireland.  This  was  about  the  year  403. 
He  was  sold  as  a  slave  to  a  certain  rich  man  named 
Milcho,  who  employed  him  to  herd  sheep  and  swine  on 
the  slopes  of  Slemish  mountain  in  the  present  county 
Antrim.  Here  he  spent  six  years  of  his  life.  If  he 
felt  at  first  heartbroken  and  miserably  lonely,  as  no 
doubt  he  did,  he  soon  recovered  himself,  and  made 
nothing  of  the  hardships  he  endui'ed  on  the  bleak  hill- 
side ;  for  in  his  solitude  his  mind  was  tui'ned  to  God, 
and  every  spare  moment  was  given  up  to  devotions. 
He  tells  us  in  his  own  earnest  and  beautiful  words : — 
**I  was  daily  employed  tending  flocks;  and  I  prayed 
fi'equently  during  the  day,  and  the  love  of  God  was 
more  and  more  enkindled  in  my  heart,  my  fear  and 
faith  were  increased,  and  my  spirit  was  stiiTcd ;  so  much 
so  that  in  a  single  day  I  poured  out  my  prayers  a  hun- 
dred times,  and  nearly  as  often  in  the  night.  !N'ay  even 
in  the  woods  and  mountains  I  remained,  and  rose  before 
the  dawn  to  my  prayer,  in  frost  and  snow  and  rain ; 
neither  did  I  suffer  any  injury  from  it,  nor  did  I  yield 
f2 


68  A  child's  history  of  rRELAND.         [CHAP.  IX. 

to  aiiy  slothfulness,  bucIi  as  I  now  experience ;  for  the 
spii-it  of  the  Lord  was  fervent  within  me."  But  he 
stood  alone  in  the  little  world  of  light  and  holiness ;  for 
his  master  was  a  pagan;  and  though  the  people  he 
mixed  with  were  bright  and  lovable,  they  too  were  all 
pagans,  grossly  superstitious,  but  beyond  that,  with  little 
idea  of  religion  of  any  kind. 

At  the  end  of  six  years  of  slavery  Patrick  escaped  and 
made  his  way  thi'ough  many  hardships  and  dangers  to 
his  home  and  family.  Dui'ing  his  residence  in  Ireland 
he  had  become  familiar  with  the  language  of  the 
people  ;  and  the  memory  of  the  pagan  darkness  in 
which  they  lived  haunted  him  night  and  day,  so  that 
he  formed  the  resolution  to  devote  his  life  to  their 
conversion.  His  steadfast  will  was  shown  even  at  this 
early  period  by  the  manner  in  which  he  set  about 
preparing  himself  for  his  noble  work.  He  first  studied 
with  great  diligence  for  about  four  years  in  the  great 
monastic  school  of  St.  Martin  of  Tours ;  and  subsequently 
under  St.  Germain  of  Auxerre  for  about  the  same 
length  of  time ;  after  which  he  continued  his  prepara- 
tion in  an  island  near  the  Italian  coast,  and  elsewhere, 
till  he  was  ready  to  begin  his  mission.  Huiing  all  this 
time  his  thoughts  were  ever  turned  lovingly  to  Ireland ; 
and  he  had  di'eams  and  visions  about  it.  Once  he 
di^eamed,  as  he  tells  us,  that  a  man  fi'om  Ireland  came 
to  him  and  gave  him  a  letter,  which  began  with  the 
words  "The  Voice  of  the  Irish."  "  ^Tiilst  I  was 
reading  the  letter" — he  goes  on  to  say — "I  imagined 
at  the  moment  that  I  heard  the  voices  of  many,  who 
were  near  the  wood  of  Foclut  which  is  [in  Ireland] 
beside  the  Western  Ocean:  ciying  out  as  if  with  one 
voice,  *  we  entreat  thee,  0  holy  youth,  to  come  and 
still  walk  amongst  us.'    And  I  was  exceedingly  afflicted 


CUAP.  IX.]  ST.  PATEICK. PAET  I.  69 

in  my  heart   and   could   read   no   more,    but  quickly- 
awoke." 

Having  received  authority  and  benediction  from 
Pope  Celestine,"^  he  set  out  for  Ireland.  On  his  way 
through  Gaul  news  came  of  the  death  of  Pallaclius; 
and  as  this  left  Ireland  without  a  bishop,  Patrick  was 
consecrated  bishop  in  Gaul  by  a  certain  holy  prelate 
named  Amator.  Embarking  for  Ireland,  he  landed  on 
the  Wicklow  coast ;  but  having  been  expelled,  like  his 
predecessor,  he  sailed  northwards,  and  finally  disem- 
barked with  his  companions  at  Lecale  in  the  present 
county  Down.  Dicho,  the  chief  of  the  district,  think- 
ing they  were  pirates,  hastily  armed  his  followers  and 
sallied  forth  to  expel  them :  but  when  they  appeared  in 
view,  he  was  so  struck  by  their  calm  and  dignified 
demeanour,  that  instead  of  attacking,  he  saluted  them 
respectfully  and  invited  them  to  his  house.  Here 
Patrick  announced  his  mission  and  explained  his  doc- 
trine ;  and  Dicho  and  his  whole  family  became  Chris- 
tians and  were  baptised  :  the  first  of  the  Irish  converted 
by  St.  Patrick.  As  there  was  no  church ;  the  chief 
presented  him  with  a  sahhall  [saul]  or  bam  for  Divine 
Service,  on  the  site  of  which  a  monastery  was  subse- 
quently erected  in  honour  of  the  saint,  which  for  many 
ages  was  held  in  great  veneration.  And  the  memory  of 
the  happy  event  is  preserved  to  this  day  in  the  name  of 
the   little   village   of    Saul    near  Downpatrick.      He 

*  So  we  find  it  stated  by  several  ancient  authorities,  the  oldest 
of  whom  is  an  Irish  saint  who  lived  a  century  and  a  half  after 
the  time  of  St.  Patrick.  Celestine  was  the  same  pope  who  had 
commissioned  Palladius  about  a  year  before  Patrick's  arrival. 
But  although  there  is  unquestionable  contemporary  evidence  that 
this  pope  sent  Palladius  to  Ireland,  some  writers  dispute  the 
statement  that  Patrick  received  his  commission  from  him. 


70  A  chiid's  Hibxoiti'  or  iheland.        [umap.  x. 

remained  in  this  neighbourhood  for  some  time ;  and  the 
people,  following  the  example  of  their  chief,  listened  to 
his  preaching,  and  were  baptised  in  gi'eat  numbers. 


CHAPTER  X. 

ST.    PATRICK. PART     II. 

(A.D.  433-465.) 

T.  Pateick  adopted,  from  the  very  begin- 
ning, a  bold  and  courageous  plan  of 
preaching  the  Gospel  in  Ireland : — He 
always  made  straight  for  the  palaces 
and  other  gi^eat  houses,  and  began  by 
attempting  to  convert  the  kings  and 
chiefs.  He  was  well  aware  of  the 
veneration  of  the  clansmen  for  their 
ruling  families;  and  he  knew  that  once  the  king 
had  become  a  Christian  the  people  would  soon  follow. 
He  had  experienced  the  success  of  this  plan  in  Saul ; 
and  now  he  came  to  the  bold  resolution  to  go  to  Tara, 
and  present  himself  before  King  Laegaire  [Leary]  and 
his  court.  Bidding  farewell  to  his  fiiend  Dicho,  he 
sailed  southward  to  the  mouth  of  the  Boyne ;  whence 
he  set  out  on  foot  for  Tara  with  his  companions. 
Soon  after  leaving  the  boat,  night  fell  on  them ;  and 
they  were  hospitably  entertained  at  the  house  of  a 
chief,  whom  the  saint  converted,  with  his  whole  family. 
One  of  the  children,  a  youth  to  whom  Patrick  gave 
the  name  of  Penen  or  Penignus  from  his  gentle  dispo- 
sition, became  so  attached  to  him  that  he  insisted  on 
going  along  with  him  next  morning.  Thenceforward 
Penen  was  Patrick's  constant  companion  and  beloved 


CfiAP.  X.] 


ST.  PATKICK. PART  II. 


71 


disciple ;  and  after  the  death  of  his  master  he  succeeded 
him  as  archbishop  of  Armagh. 

The  saint  and  his  little  company  arrived  at  the  hill 
of  Slane  on  Easter  Eve,  a.d.  433.  Here  he  prepared  to 
celebrate  the  festival;  and  towards  nightfall,  as  was 
then  the  custom,  he  lighted  the  Paschal  fire  on  the 
top  of  the  hill.  It  so  happened  that  at  this  very  time 
the  king  and  his  nobles  were  celebrating  a  festival  of 
some  kind  at  Tara;  and  the  attendants  were  about  to 
light  a  great  fire  on  the  hill,  which  was  part  of  the 
ceremonial.  IS'ow  there  was  a  law  that  while  this  fire 
was  burning  no  other  should  be  kindled  in  the  country 
all  round  on  pain  of  death ;    and  accordingly,  when  the 

king  and  his  couiiiers 
saw  the  fire  ablaze  on 
the  hill  of  Slane,  nine 
miles  off,  they  were 
much  astonished  at 
such  an  open  violation 
of  the  law.  The  mo- 
narch instantly  called 
his  di'uids  and  ques- 
tioned them  about  it; 
and  they  said  :  —  ''If 
that  fii'e  which  we  now 
see  be  not  extinguished 
to-night,  it  will  never 
be  extinguished,  but 
will  overtop  all  our 
fii'es  :  and  he  that  has 
kindled  it  will  over- 
turn thy  kingdom."  "Whereupon  the  king,  in  great 
wrath,  instantly  set  out  in  his  chariot  with  a  small 
retinue,  nine  chariots  in  all;  and  having  amved  near 


St.  Ercs  Hermitage.    From  Wilde's  " 
and  Blackwater."     Wakeman. 


Boyne 


72 


A  child's  niSTOllY  OF  IRELAND.  [CHAP.  X. 


Slane,  he  summoned  the  strangers  to  his  presence.  He 
had  commanded  that  none  should  rise  up  to  show  them 
respect;  but  when  they  presented  themselves,  one  of 
the  courtiers,  Ere  the  son  of  Dego,  struck  with  the 
saint's  commanding  appearance,  rose  from  his  seat  and 
saluted  him.  This  Ere  was  converted,  and  became  after- 
wards bishop  of  Slane ;  and  to  this  day  there  is,  on  the 
bank  of  the  Boyne  near  Slane,  a  little  ruined  oratory 
called  from  him  St.  Erc's  Hermitage.  The  result  of 
this  interview  was  what  St.  Patrick  most  earnestly 
desired :  he  was  dii'ected  to  appear  next  day  at  Tara 
and  give  an  account  of  his  proceedings  before  the 
assembled  coui't.  On  the  summit  of  the  hill  of  Slane, 
at  the  spot  where  Patrick  lighted  his  Paschal  fire, 
there  are  still  the  ruins  of  a  monastery  erected  in 
commemoration  of  the  event. 


Slane  Monastery.    From  Wilde's  "  Boyne  and  Blackwater." 
Wakenian. 

The  next  day  was  Easter  Sunday.  Early  in  the 
morning  Patrick  and  his  companions  set  out  for  the 
palace,  and  on  their  way  they  chanted  a  hymn  in  the 
native  tongue — an  invocation  for  protection  against  the 


CHAP.  X.]  ST.  PATEICK. PAET  II.  73 

dangers  and  treacliery  by  whicli  they  were  beset ;  for 
they  had  heard  that  persons  were  lying  in  wait  to  slay 
them.  This  noble  and  beautiful  hymn  was  long  held 
in  great  veneration  by  the  people  of  this  country,  and 
we  still  possess  copies  of  it  in  a  veiy  old  dialect  of  the 
Irish  language.  In  the  history  of  the  spread  of  Chiis- 
tianity,  it  would  be  difficult  to  find  a  more  singular  and 
impressive  scene  than  was  presented  at  the  court  of 
King  Laegaire  on  that  memorable  Easter  morning. 
Patrick  was  robed  in  white,  as  were  also  his  companions ; 
he  wore  his  mitre,  and  carried  his  crosier  in  his  hand ; 
and  when  he  presented  himself  before  the  assembly, 
Dubthach  [Duffa],  Laegaire's  chief  poet,  rose  to 
welcome  him,  contraiy  to  the  express  commands  of 
the  king.  The  saint,  all  aflame  with  zeal  and  unawed 
by  the  presence  of  king  and  court,  explained  to  the 
assembly  the  leading  points  of  the  Chiistian  doctrine, 
and  silenced  the  king's  druids  in  argument.  Dubthach 
became  a  convert,  and  thenceforward  devoted  his 
poetical  talents  to  the  service  of  God ;  and  Laegaire 
gave  permission  to  the  strange  missionaries  to  preach 
their  doctrines  throughout  his  dominions.  The  king 
himself  however  was  not  converted  ;  and  for  the  re- 
maining thirty  years  of  his  life  he  remained  an  unbe- 
liever, while  the  paganism  of  the  whole  country  was 
rapidly  going  down  before  the  fiery  energy  of  the  great 
missionary. 

Patrick  next  proceeded  to  Tailltenn  where,  during 
the  celebration  of  the  national  games  (page  31),  he 
preached  for  a  week  to  the  assembled  multitudes,  making 
many  converts,  among  whom  was  Conall  Gulban, 
brother  to  King  Laegaire,  the  ancestor  of  the  O'Don- 
nells  of  Tirconnell.  "We  find  him  soon  afterwards 
making  for  the  plain  where  stood  the   great  national 


74  A  child's  nisTORi:  of  iheland.        [chap.  X. 

idol  Crom  Cniach  ^ith  the  twelve  lesser  idols  (p.  37), 
all  of  which  he  destroyed. 

About  the  year  438,  with  the  concurrence  of  King 
Laegaire,  he  undertook  the  task  of  revising  the  Brehon 
Law.  He  was  aided  by  eight  others,  among  them 
King  Laegaire  himself,  and  at  the  end  of  three  years, 
this  Committee  of  Kine  produced  a  new  code,  free  from 
all  pagan  customs  and  ordinances,  which  was  ever  after 
known  as  ''  Cain  Patrick  "  or  Patrick's  Law.  This 
Law  Book,  which  is  also  called  the  SencJms  M6r 
[Shan'ahus  More],  has  been  lately  translated  and 
published. 

In  his  journey  thi'ough  Connaught  he  met  the  two 
daughters  of  King  Laegaire  —  Ethnea  the  fair  and 
Pedelma  the  ruddy — near  the  palace  of  Croghan,  where 
they  lived  at  that  time  in  fosterage  with  their  two 
druid  tutors.  They  had  come  out  one  morning  at 
suni'ise  to  wash  their  hands  in  a  certain  spring  well,  as 
was  their  custom,  and  were  greatly  astonished  to  find 
Patrick  and  his  companions  at  the  well  with  books  in 
their  hands,  chanting  a  hymn.  Having  never  seen 
persons  in  that  garb  before,  the  virgins  thought  at 
first  that  they  were  beings  fi'om  the  shee  or  fairy  hills 
(page  37) ;  but  when  the  first  sui-prise  was  over  they 
fell  into  conversation  with  them,  and  inquired  whence 
they  had  come.  And  Patrick  gently  replied : — "  It 
were  better  for  you  to  confess  to  oui'  true  God  than  to 
inquire  concerning  our  race."  They  eagerly  asked 
many  questions  about  Grod,  his  dwelling-place — whether 
in  the  sea,  in  rivers,  in  mountainous  places,  or  in 
valleys — how  knowledge  of  him  was  to  be  obtained, 
how  he  was  to  be  found,  seen,  and  loved,  with  other 
inquiries  of  a  like  nature.  The  saint  answered  all 
their  questions,  and  explained  the  leading  points  of  the 


CHAt.  X.]  ST.  PATRICK. PAEt  II.  75 

faith ;  and  the  virgins  were  immediately  baptised  and 
consecrated  to  the  service  of  religion. 

On  the  approach  of  Lent  he  retired  to  the  mountain 
which  has  ever  since  borne  his  name — Croagh  Patrick 
or  Patrick's  hill — where  he  spent  some  time  in  fasting 
and  prayer.  About  this  time,  a.d.  449,  the  seven 
sons  of  Amalgaid  [Awley]  king  of  Connaught  were 
holding  a  meeting  in  Tirawley,  to  which  Patrick  re- 
paired. He  expounded  his  doctrines  to  the  wondering 
assembly ;  and  the  seven  princes  with  twelve  thousand 
persons  were  baptised.  After  spending  seven  years  in 
Connaught,  he  visited  successively  Ulster,  Leinster, 
and  Munster,  in  each  of  which  he  preached  for  several 
years.  Soon  after  entering  Leinster,  he  converted,  at 
the  palace  beside  IN'aas  where  the  Leinster  kings  then 
resided,   the   two   princes   lUann  and   Olioll,   sons  of 


.c^^«>-'=^ 


North  Moat,  Naas  :  remains  of  ancient  palace.    (House  on  top  modern.) 
From  a  drawing  by  the  author,  1857. 

King  Dunlang,  who  both  afterwards  succeeded  to  the 
throne  of  theii-  father.  And  at  Cashel,  the  seat  of  the 
kings  of  Munster,  he  was  met  by  the  king,  Aengus  the 
son  of  T^atfree,  who  conducted  him  into  the  palace  on 
the  rock  with  the  greatest  reverence,  and  was  at  once 
baptised. 


76  A  child's  history  of  IRELAND.  [cHAP.  X. 

Wherever  St.  Patrick  went  lie  founded  churches,  and 
left  them  in  charge  of  his  disciples.  In  his  various 
journeys,  he  encountered  many  dangers  and  met  with 
numerous  temporary  repulses ;  but  his  courage  and 
resolution  never  wavered,  and  success  attended  his 
efforts  in  almost  eveiy  part  of  his  wonderful  career. 
He  founded  the  see  of  Armagh  about  the  year  455,  and 
made  it  the  head  see  of  all  Ireland.  The  gi'eater  part 
of  the  country  was  now  filled  with  Christians  and  with 
churches ;  and  the  mission  of  the  venerable  apostle  was 
drawing  to  a  close.  He  was  seized  with  his  death  ill- 
ness in  Saul,  the  scene  of  his  first  triumph ;  and  he 
breathed  his  last  on  the  seventeenth  of  March,  in  or 
about  the  year  465,  in  the  seventy-eighth  year  of  his 
age.*' 

The  news  of  his  death  was  the  signal  for  universal 
mourning.  From  the  remotest  districts  of  the  island, 
clergy  and  laity  turned  their  steps  towards  the  little 
village  of  Saul,  to  pay  the  last  tribute  of  love  and 
respect  to  their  great  master.  They  celebrated  the 
obsequies  for  twelve  days  and  nights  without  interrup- 
tion, joining  in  the  ceremonies  as  they  arrived  in 
succession ;  and  in  the  language  of  one  of  his  biogi'aphers, 
the  blaze  of  myriads  of  torches  made  the  whole  time 
appear  like  one  continuous  day.  He  was  buiied  with 
great  solemnity  at  Dun-da-leth-glas,  the  old  residence  of 
the  princes  of  Ulidia ;  and  the  name  in  the  altered  fonn 
of  Downpatrick,  commemorates  to  all  time  the  saint's 
place  of  interment. 

*  There  is  much  uncertainty  both  as  to  St.  Patrick's  age  and 
as  to  the  year  of  his  death.  I  have  given  the  age  and  the  year 
that  seem  to  me  most  probable. 


Composed  from  the  Book  of  Kells. 

CHAPTER   XI. 

PEOGEESS     OF     EELIGION. 

,UKiNG  the  lifetime  of  St.  Patrick  there  was 
extraordinaiy  religious  fervour  in  Ire- 
land which  lasted  on  for  several  centuries, 
such  as,  probably,  has  never  been  wit- 
nessed in  any  other  country.  There 
gathered  round  the  great  apostle  a 
crowd  of  holy  and  earnest  men,  who, 
when  they  passed  away,  were  succeeded  by  others  as 
holy  and  as  earnest :  and  the  long  succession  continued 
unbroken  for  centuries.  We  have  the  lives  of  those 
men  pictui-ed  in  minute  detail  in  our  old  wi'itings :  and 
it  is  impossible  to  look  on  them  without  feelings  of 
wonder  and  admiration.  They  were  wholly  indifferent 
to  bodily  comfort  or  to  worldly  advancement.  They 
traversed  the  country  on  foot,  and  endured  without 
flinching  privations  and  dangers  of  every  kind  for  the 
one  object  of  their  lives — to  spread  religion  and  civilisa- 
tion among  their  rude  countrymen ;  and  when  at  home 
in  their  monasteries,  many  lived  and  slept  in  poor 
comfortless  little  houses,  the  remains  of  which  may  be 
seen  to  this  day — places  we  should  now  hesitate  to 
house  our  animals  in.  The  lot  of  the  poorest  and  hardest- 
worked  labouring  man  of  our  time  is  luxury  itself  com- 
pared with  the  life  led  by  many  of  those  noble  old 


78  A  child's  history  of  IRELAND.         [CHAP.  XI. 

missionaries.  But  even  these  were  surpassed  by  those 
resolute  Irishmen  who  went  in  crowds,  in  the  seventh 
and  eighth  centuries,  to  preach  the  Gospel  to  the  half- 
savage,  ferocious,  and  vicious  people  who  then  inhabited 
Gaul,  North  Italy,  and  Germany. 

It  must  not  be  supposed  that  all  the  people  of  Ireland 
were  converted  by  St.  Patrick  and  his  companions. 
There  were  large  districts  never  visited  by  them  ;  and 
in  many  others  the  Chiistianity  of  the  people  was  merely 
on  the  sui'face.  Much  pagan  superstition  remained; 
the  druids  still  retained  great  influence ;  and  for  more 
than  a  century  after  St.  Patrick's  death  Christianity  had 
a  hard  struggle  with  paganism  ;  so  that  there  was  plenty 
of  work  for  his  successors.  Of  these  the  two  most 
illustrious  were  St.  Brigit  and  St.  Columkille,  who  of 
all  the  Irish  saints,  with  the  single  exception  of  St. 
Patrick  himself,  are  most  venerated  by  the  Irish  people. 

St.  Brigit  of  Kildare  was  born  about  the  year  455  at 
Faughart  near  Dundalk ;  but  her  father,  who  was  a 
powerful  chief,  belonged  to  Leinster.  She  became  a 
nun  when  very  young ;  and  soon  the  fame  of  her 
sanctity  spread  through  the  whole  country.  Having 
founded  convents  in  various  parts  of  Ireland,  she  finally 
settled — about  the  year  480 — at  a  place  in  Leinster, 
where  she  built  her  little  wooden  cell  under  the  shade 
of  a  great  oak-tree,  whence  it  got  the  name  of  Kill- 
dara^  the  church  of  the  oak,  now  Kildare.  This  became 
the  greatest  and  most  famous  nunnery  ever  established 
in  Ireland.  St.  Brigit  died  on  the  1st  of  February, 
523.  She  is  affectionately  revered  in  every  part  of 
Ireland ;  and  there  are  places  all  through  the  countiy 
still  called  Kilbride,  and  Kilbreedy  (Brigit's  church) 
which  received  their  names  from  churches  founded  by 
or  in  commemoration  of  her. 


CHAP.  XI.] 


PEOGEESS  OF  EELIGION. 


79 


St.  Columba  or  Columkille  was  born  in  521  at  Gartan 
in  Donegal.  He  belonged  to  the  Northern  Hy  Neill, 
his  father  being  great-grandson  of  Niall  of  the  Nine 
Hostages ;  but  he  gave  up  all  the  worldly  advantages  of 
his  princely  birth  for  religion.  In  the  year  546  he  built 
the  chiu'ch  of  Derry  on  a  spot  presented  to  him  by 


The  Church  called  "  St.  Columb's  House,"  Kells,  Co.  Meath  (in  1840). 
From  Petrie's  "  Round  Towers." 

prince  Aed  Mac  Ainmire  [An'mii'a],  afterwards  king  of 
Ireland.  During  the  next  sixteen  years,  he  travelled 
and  preached  and  founded  a  great  number  of  chui'ches 
and  monasteries  all  over  the  country,  among  others  those 
of  Kells,  Swords,  Tory  Island,  Lambay  near  Dublin, 
and  Durrow  in  King's  County,  the  last  of  which  was 
his  chief  establishment  in  Ireland.      All  these  places 


80  A  child's  niSTOUY  OF  IRELAND.         [CUAP.  XI. 

were  venerated  for  centui'ies  after  the  saint's  death,  and 
in  all  there  are  interesting  ruins  to  this  day. 

In  the  year  563  Columba  went  with  twelve  companions 
to  the  little  island  of  lona  on  the  west  coast  of  Scotland, 
which  had  been  granted  to  him  by  his  relative  the  king 
of  that  part  of  Scotland.     Here  he  settled,  and  founded 
the  monastery  which  afterwards  became  so  illustrious. 
He  converted  the  Picts ;  and  he  traversed  the  Hebrides, 
preaching  to  the  people  and  founding  churches  wherever 
he  went.     After  a  life  of  incessant  acti\^ty  in  the  service 
of  religion,  his  death  sickness  came  upon  him  at  lona  in 
the  year  597,  when  he  was  seventy-six  years  of  age. 
His  biographer  St.  Adamnan  has  left  us  a  full  account 
of  the  manner  of  his  death.     Though  feeling  his  end 
approaching,    he   continued,   as  long  as   he  was  able, 
working  at  his  favourite  occupation,  copying  the  Scrip- 
tures,  with  one  of  his  disciples,   Baithen,  constantly 
beside  him.     ^Tien  at  last  he  could  wi'ite  no  more,  he 
laid  down  the  pen  and  said,  ' '  Let  Baithen  write  the  rest." 
At  the  toll  of  the  midnight  bell  he  rose  from  his  bed, 
which  was  nothing  but  a  bare  flagstone,  and  went  to 
the  chuiTh  hard  by,  followed  immediately  after  by  his 
attendant  Dermot.      He  amved  there  before  the  others 
had  time  to  bring  in  the  lights  ;  and  Dermot  losing  sight 
of  him  in  the  darkness,  called  out  "Where  are  you, 
father? "      Receiving  no  reply,  he  felt  his  way,  till  he 
found  his  master  before  the  altar  kneeling  and  leaning 
forward  on  the  steps  :    and  raising  him  up  a  little,  sup- 
ported his  head  on  his  breast.     The  monks  now  came  up 
with  the  lights ;    and  seeing  their  beloved  old  master 
dying,  they  began  to  weep.      He  looked  at  them  with 
his  face  lighted  up  with  joy,  and  tried  to  utter  a  blessing; 
but  being  unable  to  speak,  he  raised  his  hand  a  little  to 
hless  them,  and  in  the  very  act  of  doing  so  he  died  in 


CHAP. 


XI.] 


PHOGEESS  OF  RELIGION. 


81 


Dermot's  arms.     The  funeral  services  lasted  tliree  days 


and    three   nights, 
monastery.* 


and  he   was    huried    within   the 


Inishcaltra  or  Holy  Island  in  Lough  Derg  on  the  Shannon.  Island 
Monastery  founded  by  St.  Camin,  died  653.  From  "  Kilkenny  Archaeological 
Journal":  1889,  page  162.     Wakeman. 

The  early  monastic  clergy  of  Ireland  may  he  said  to 
have  heen  mainly  of  two  classes.    Those  of  the  one  class 


*  Besides  Patrick,  Brigit,  and  Columkille,  the  following  are 
few  of  the  most  eminent  of  the  Irish  saints :  — 

St.  Ailbe  of  Emly  in  Limerick,  who  was  ordained  bishop 
Cashel  by  St.  Patrick  :  he  was  ecclesiastical  head  of  Munster. 

St.  Enna  or  Endeus  of  Aran  in  Galway  Bay  ;  died  about  542 
This  island  was  afterwards  called  Ara-na-Naemh  [naive],  Aran 
of  the  saints,  from  the  number  of  holy  men  who  lived  in  it. 

St.  Finiien  of  Clonard,  the  founder  of  the  great  school  there  : 
called  "  The  Tutor  of  the  Saints  of  Ireland"  :  died  549. 

St.  Ciaran  [Kieran]  of  Clonmacnoise,  which  became  one  of  the 
greatest  of  all  the  Irish  monasteries :  died  549. 


82  A  guild's  history  of  IRELAND.        [CHAP.  XI. 

settled  ill  the  inhabited  districts,  and  concerned  them- 
selves with  the  functions  of  education  and  religious  min- 
istration. They  went  freely  among  chiefs  and  people, 
restrained  their  quarrels  so  far  as  they  could,  and  in- 
structed, assisted,  and  encoui-aged  them  by  advice  and 
example.  Those  of  the  other  class  gave  themselves  up 
to  a  life  of  prayer,  contemplation,  and  work ;  and  these 
took  up  theii'  abode  in  remote  islands  or  mountain  valleys, 
places  generally  hard  to  reach,  and  often  almost  inac- 
cessible. Here  the  little  commimities  lived  in  huts,  built 
by  themselves,  one  for  each  individual,  while  near  by 
was  the  little  church  for  common  worship.  There  was 
a  very  general  inclination  among  religious  men  for  this 
monastic  hermit  life  in  the  early  Christian  ages — from 
about  the  middle  of  the  sixth  centuiy ;  and  on  almost 
all  the  islands  round  the  coast,  as  well  as  on  those  in  the 
lakes  and  rivers,  the  remains  of  churches  and  primitive 
establishments  are  found  to  this  dav. 


St.  Ciaran  or  Kieran,  the  patron  of  Ossovy  :  bom  in  the  island 
of  Cape  Clear ;  but  his  father  belonged  to  Ossory :  died  about  550. 

St.  Ita,  Ida,  or  Mida,  virgin  saint,  of  Killeedy  in  Limerick ; 
often  called  the  Brigit  of  Munster  :  died  569. 

St.  Brendan  of  Clonfert  in  Galway,  or  ' '  Brendan  the  Navi- 
gator": born  in  Kerry  :  died  577. 

St.  Senan  of  Scattery  Island  in  the  Shannon :  died  about  560. 

St.  Comgall,  the  founder  of  the  celebrated  school  of  Bangor  in 
Down,  which  rivalled  Clonard  :  died  602. 

St.  Kevin,  the  founder  of  Glendalough  in  \YicIilow  :  died  618. 

St.  Carrthach  or  Mochuda  of  Lismore,  where  he  founded  one 
of  Ireland's  greatest  schools  :  died  637. 

St.  Adamnan  the  biographer  of  St.  Columkille ;  ninth  abbot  of 
lona  :  born  in  Donegal :  died  703. 

Among  the  vast  number  of  Irish  men  and  women  who  became 
illustrious  on  the  Continent,  the  following  may  be  named: — 

St.  Fursa  of  Peronne  and  his  brothers  Foillan  and  Ultan ; 
Fursa  died  about  650  (see  page  17). 


CHAP.  XI.  J 


PEOGKESS  OF  BELIGION. 


8a 


The   churches   which   began  to  be   built  after  the 
arrival  of  St.  Patrick  were  generally  of  wood,  but  often 


St.  Mac  Dara's  primitive  church  on  St.  Mac  Dara's  Island  off  the  coast  of  Galway. 
Interior  measurement  15  feet  by  11.    From  Petrie's  "  Round  Towers." 


St.  Dympna  or  Domnat  of  Gheel,  virgin  martyr,  to  whom  the 
great  sanatorium  for  hmatics  at  Gheel  in  Belgium  is  dedicated : 
daughter  of  an  Irish  pagan  king  :  martyred,  seventh  century. 

St.  Columbanus  of  Bobbio  in  Italy,  a  pupil  of  Bangor,  founded 
the  two  monasteries  of  Luxeuil  and  Fontaines :  expelled  from 
Burgundy  for  denouncing  the  vices  of  king  Theodoric  ;  preached 
successfully  to  the  Gauls ;  wrote  learned  letters :  finally  settled 
at  Bobbio,  where  he  died,  615. 

St.  Gall,  a  disciple  of  Columbanus,  patron  of  St.  Gall  (in 
Switzerland)  which  was  named  from  him. 

St.  Fridolin  the  Traveller  of  Seckingen  on  the  Ehine  :  died 
in  the  beginning  of  the  sixth  century. 

St.  Kilian  the  apostle  of  Franconia  :  martyred  689. 

St.  Cataldus  bishop  of  Tarentum,  from  the  school  of  Lismore, 
where  he  was  a  professor :  seventh  century. 

Virgil  or  Virgilius   bishop   of  Salzburg,    called  Virgil  the 
Geometer,  from  his  eminence  in  science  :  taught,  probably  for  the 
first  time,  the  rotundity  of  the  earth  :  died  785. 
a  2 


84 


A  child's  niSTOKY  OF  IRELAND.         [cHAP.  XI. 


of  stone  and  mortar.  For  hundreds  of  years  they  con- 
tinued very  simple  and  small,  for  the  congregations  were 
small :  but  in  the  twelfth  century  large  and  splendid 
churches  began  to  be  erected,  both  by  the  Anglo- 
Norman  lords,  and  by  the  native  chiefs.  The  ruins 
of  numbers  of  the  little  stone  churches  of  the  early 
Christian  times  (of  which  St.  Mac  Dara's  church, 
figui'ed  on  last  page,  is  a  good  example),  and  of  the  gi'and 
churches  and  mo- 
nasteries of  the 
twelfth  and  subse- 
quent centui'ies,  are 
still  to  be  seen  in 
various  parts  of  the 
country.  Of  the 
latter,  Kilmallock 
Abbey,  represented 
at  p.  126,  below,  is 
a  fine  specimen.  In 
connexion  with 
many  of  the 
churches  and  mo- 
nasteries were 
slender  round 
towers,  fi'om  60 
to  150  feet  high, 
di^-ided  into  stories 
and  lighted  by  small  windows.  The  doorway  was 
usually  ten  or  fifteen  feet  from  the  ground,  and  was 


Round  Tower  (perfect),  Devenish  Island  in  Lough 
Erne  near  Enniskillen.  From  "Kilkenny  Archaeolo- 
gical Journal."  Wakeman.  A  small  church  with  an 
imperfect  round  tower  will  be  found  figured  at  page 
8i ;  and  another  at  page  88. 


Clement  and  Albinus,  placed  by  Charlemagne  at  the  head  of 
two  great  seminaries. 

John  Scotus  Erigena,  celebrated  for  his  knowledge  of  Greek  : 
the  most  distinguished  scholar  of  his  time  in  Europe :  taught 
philosophy  with  great  distinction  in  Paris  :  died  about  870 


CHAP.  XI.J  PROGRESS  OF  RELIGION.  85 

reached  Ly  a  small  ladder.  These  towers  were  erected 
at  various  times  from  the  ninth  to  the  thirteenth  cen- 
tury :  and  they  had  at  least  a  twofold  use : — as  belfries, 
and  as  keeps  or  fortresses,  to  which  the  inmates  of 
the  monasteries  could  retire  for  the  time,  with  their 
valuables,  in  case  of  sudden  attack  by  the  Danes  or 
others :  which  latter  was  their  most  important  use. 
Some  were  probably  also  used  as  beacons  and  watch- 
towers.  About  eighty  of  the  round  towers  still  remain, 
of  which  upwards  of  twenty  are  perfect. 

Almost  all  chui'ches  and  monasteries  were  founded  on 
tracts  of  land  granted  for  the  purpose  by  kings  or 
chiefs  ;  and  after  their  establishment  they  were  sup- 
ported, partly  by  donations  and  bequests,  and  partly  by 
the  laboui's  of  their  communities,  as  described  below. 
Many  of  them  became  rich,  and  their  wealth  was 
expended  in  relieving  poverty,  in  entertaining  guests, 
and  in  the  production  of  those  lovely  works  of  art  in 
gold,  silver,  and  gems,  which  have  been  already 
described. 

The  inmates  of  these  monasteries,  whether  established 
in  inhabited  districts  or  in  solitudes,  did  not  lead  an 
idle  life.  On  the  contrary  they  were  kept  busily  at 
work  ;  and  some  of  the  old  records  giving  an  account  of 
how  the  monks  were  employed  in  theii'  various  avoca- 
tions are  very  pleasant  reading.  When  the  founder  of  a 
monasteiy  had  determined  on  the  neighbourhood  in  which 
to  settle,  and  had  fixed  on  the  site  for  his  establishment, 
he  brought  together  those  who  had  agreed  to  become 
his  disciples  and  companions,  and  they  set  about  pre- 
paring the  place  for  residence.  They  did  all  the  work 
with  their  own  hands,  seeking  no  help  from  outside. 
While  some  levelled  and  fenced  in  the  ground,  others 
cut  down,  in  the  surrounding  woods,  timber  for  the 


86  A  child's  history  of  IRELAND.         [cHAP.  XI. 

houses  or  for  the  church,  dragging  the  great  logs  along, 
or  bringing  home  on  their  backs  bundles  of  wattles  and 
twigs  for  the  wickerwork  walls.  Even  the  leaders 
claimed  no  exemption,  but  often  worked  manfully  witb 
axe  and  spade  like  the  rest. 

When  settled  down  in  their  new  home  the  inmates 
supported  themselves  by  the  work  of  their  hands,  and  no 
one  was  permitted  to  be  idle.  Agricultui^e  fonned  one 
of  the  principal  employments ;  for,  as  already  stated,  there 
was  land  attached  to  almost  every  monastery.  Those 
working  in  the  fields  were  always  under  the  superin- 
tendence of  some  member  deputed  by  the  abbot;  and 
they  retm-ned  in  the  evening,  bringing  on  their  backs 
heavy  loads  of  provisions  or  other  necessaries  for  next 
day.  Some  milked  the  cows  and  brought  home  the 
milk  in  vessels  strapped  on  their  shoulders ;  while 
those  who  had  a  trade  always  worked  at  it,  for  the  use 
of  the  community  or  guests.  Others  again  attended  in 
the  evening  to  the  mill,  if  there  was  one  attached  to 
the  monastery,  or  if  not,  worked  at  the  querns  till  they 
had  ground  com  enough  for  next  day. 

Attached  to  every  monastery,  and  forming  part  of  it, 
was  what  was  called  the  "  Guest-house  "  for  the  re- 
ception of  travellers ;  and  some  of  the  inmates  were 
told  off  for  this  duty,  whose  business  it  was  to  receive 
the  stranger,  to  wash  his  feet,  and  prepare  supper  and 
bed  for  him.  For  in  those  days  travellers,  whether  of 
high  or  low  rank,  were  always  sure  of  a  hospitable  re- 
ception fi'ce  of  charge  at  the  monasteries ;  a  function 
which  was  continued  till  their  suppression  by  Henry 
VIII.  Some  of  the  monks  too  were  skilled  in  simple 
herb  remedies,  and  the  poor  people  around  often  came 
to  them  for  advice  and  medicine  in  sickness. 

In  the  educational  establishments,  teaching  afforded 


CHAP.  XI.] 


PKOGRESS  OF  EELIGION. 


87 


abundant  employment  to  the  scholarly  members  of  the 
community.  Others  again  worked  at  copying  and 
multiplying  books  for  the  library,  or  for  presentation 
outside ;  and  to  the  industry  of  these  scribes  we  owe  the 


Scribe  writing  the  Book  of  Kildare.  From  an  illuminated  MS.  of  Giraldus 
Cambrensis,  transcribed  about  a.d.  isoo  :  now  in  British  Museum.  Photographed 
from  reproduction  in  Gilbert's  "Fac-Sim.  Nat.  MSS." 

chief  part  of  the  ancient  Irish  lore,  and  other  learning, 
that  has  been  preserved  to  us.  St.  Columkille  devoted 
every  moment  of  his  spare  time  to  this  work,  writing  in 
a  little  wooden  hut  that  he  had  erected  for  his  use  at 
lona ;  and  it  is  recorded  that  he  wrote  with  his  own  hand 
three  himdred  copies  of  the  JS'ew  Testament,  which  he 


88 


A  child's  HISTOUY  of  IRELAND.         [CHAP.  XI. 


presented  to  tlio  yarioiis  cliurclics  ho  had  founded. 
Some  spent  their  time  in  ornamenting  and  illuminating 
books — generally  of  a  religious  character,  such  as  copies 
of  portions  of  Scriptui'e :  and  these  men  produced  the 
wonderful  penwork  of  the  Book  of  Kells  and  other  such 
manuscripts  (page  13).  Others  were  skilled  metal- 
workers, and  made  crosiers,  crosses,  hells,  brooches,  and 
other  articles,  of  which  many  are  preserved  to  this  day, 
that  show  the  surpassing  taste  and  skill  of  the  artists. 
The  cares  of  governing  the  household  generally  gave 
occupation  enough  to  the  abbot  or  head  of  the  com- 
munity ;  yet  he  is  often  found  working  in  the  fields, 


^-"^r^. 


Church  and  (imperfect)  Round  Tower  of  Dysert-Aengus  near  Croom.  in  Limerick. 
From  Mrs.  Hall's  "Ireland." 

attending  to  the  cattle,  ploughing  or  digging,  or  taking 
his  turn  in  bringing  com  on  his  back  to  the  mill  and 
grinding  it  for  next  day's  food.     St.  Brigit,  accompanied 


CHAP.  XII.]  PEOGEESS  OF  LEAENIlfG. 


89 


by  a  few  of  her  nuns,  often  herded  her  sheep  on  the  level 
Bward  round  her  nunnery  in  Kildare.  With  all  this  the 
inmates  had  of  coui'se  their  devotions  to  attend  to ;  and 
in  most  monasteries  had  to  rise  at  sound  of  bell  in  the 
middle  of  the  night,  all  the  year  round,  and  go  to  the 
church  to  prayers.  Thus  they  led  a  busy  and  labori- 
ous life,  contented  and  cheerful  in  the  consciousness 
that  they  were  doing  good  and  useful  work. 


CHAPTER  XII. 


PEOGEESS     OF    LEAENING. 


ANCIENT  Ireland,  Eeligion  and  Education 
went  hand  in  hand,  so  that  in  tracing 
their  history  it  is  impossible  to  separate 
them.  By  far  the  greatest  part  of  the 
education  of  the  country  was  earned  on 
by,  or  under  the  direction  of,  priests  and 
monks,  who  always  combined  religious 
with  secular  teaching. 

Erom  the  middle  of  the  sixth  century, 
schools  rapidly  arose  all  over  the  country, 
most  of  them  in  connexion  with  monasteries.  Some 
had  very  large  numbers  of  students ;  for  instance  we 
are  told  that  there  were  3000  under  St.  Einnen  at 
Clonard ;  and  some  other  schools,  such  as  Eangor,  had 
as  many.  A  few  of  the  students  resided  in  the  college, 
such  as  sons  of  kings  and  chiefs,  and  those  who  were 
literaiy  foster  childi^en  of  the  professors  ;  but  the  most 
usual  aiTangement  was  that  each  student  lived  in  a 
little  hut  of  wood  and  sods,  built  by  himself ;  or  perhaps 


90  A  child's  HISTOET  of  IEELAND.       [chap.  XII. 

two  or  more  joined  and  built  a  more  commodious  house 
for  common  use.  Wliole  streets  of  these  little  houses 
surrounded  the  monastery :  the  huts  of  the  scholars 


Ancient  baptismal  font  of  Clonard  :  3  feet  high :  still  preserved  in  the  church 
there.  From  Wilde's  "  Boyne  and  Blackwater."  Not  a  vestige  of  any  old 
building  remains  on  the  site  of  this  great  monastery. 

of  St.  Movi  of  Glasnevin,  near  Dublin,  extended  along 
the  banks  of  the  river  Tolka  near  the  present  bridge. 
At  stated  times  the  students  came  forth  in  crowds  to 
hear  the  lectures  of  the  professors,  which  were  often 
given  in  the  open  air. 

In  all  the  more  important  schools  there  were  students 
from  foreign  lands.  The  majority  were  from  Great 
Britain,  from  which  they  came  in  fleetloads,  as  Aldhelm, 
an  English  bishop  of  the  year  705,  expresses  it.  IN^um- 
bers  also  came  from  the  Continent,  among  whom  were 
some  princes  :  Aldfrid  king  of  Northumbria,  and 
Dagobert  II.  king  of  France,  both,  when  in  exile  in 


CHAP.  Xn.]  PEOGEESS  OF  LEAENI^G. 


91 


the  seyenth  century,  foimd  an  asylum  and  were 
educated  in  Ireland  :  and  others  of  like  rank  might  be 
named.  We  get  some  idea  of  the  numbers  of  foreigners 
from  the  words  of  Aengus  the  Culdee,  an  Irish  wiiter 


Two  Irish  alphabets  :  the  upper  one  of  the  7th  century  :  the  lower  of  the  nth. 
The  three  last  characters  of  the  first  alphabet  are  Y,  Z,  and  &-c.  (There  are 
two  forms  of  i-  in  each.)    From  Miss  Stokess  "  Christian  Inscriptions,"  II.  135. 

of  the  ninth  centuiy,  who  mentions  by  name  many 
Eomans,  Gauls,  Germans,  Britons,  and  even  Egyptians, 
all  of  whom  died  in  Ireland.  Venerable  Bede,  de- 
scribing the  ravages  of  the  yellow  plague  in  664, 
says : — "  This  pestilence  did  no  less  harm  in  the  island 
of  Ireland.  Many  of  the  nobility  and  of  the  lower 
ranks  of  the  English  nation  were  there  at  that  time  : 
and  some  of  them  devoted  themselves  to  a  monastic  life  : 
others  chose  to  apply  themselves  to  study.  The  Scots 
willingly  received  them  all,  and  took  care  to  supply 
them  with  food,  as  also  to  furnish  them  with  [manu- 
script] books  to  read,  and  their  teaching,  all  gratis." 


92  A  child's  history  of  IRELAND.       [cHAP.  XII. 

In  the  course  of  three  or  foui'  centuries  from  the 
time  of  St.  Patrick,  Ireland  became  the  most  learned 
country  in  Eui'ope  :  and  it  came  to  be  known  by  the 
name  now  so  familiar  to  us — Insula  sanctorum  etdoctorum, 
the  Island  of  saints  and  scholars. "^^ 

In  these  great  seminaries  all  branches  of  knowledge 
then  known  were  taught :  they  were,  in  fact,  the 
models  of  our  present  universities;  and  besides  those 
persons  preparing  for  a  religious  life,  great  numbers  of 
young  men,  both  native  and  foreign,  the  sons  of  kings, 
chiefs,  and  others,  attended  them  to  get  a  good  general 
education.  Laymen  who  distinguished  themselves  as 
scholars  were  often  employed  as  professors  in  the 
monastic  schools.  One  of  the  most  eminent  of  the 
professors  in  the  college  of  Monasterboice  was  *'Flann 
of  the  Monastery,"  a  layman  of  the  eleventh  century, 
several  of  whose  poems,  as  well  as  his  Eook  of  Annals, 
are  preserved.  But  some  few  schools  were  pui'ely  lay 
and  professional : — for  Law,  Medicine,  Poetry,  or  Lite- 
rature ;  and  these  were  taught  generally  by  laymen. 

At  these  colleges,  whether  clerical  or  lay,  they  had 
various  degrees,  as  there  are  in  modern  universities. 
The  highest  was  that  of  Ollave  or  Doctor ;  and  there 
were  ollaves  of  the  several  professions ;  so  that  a  man 
might  be  an  ollave  poet,  an  ollave  historian,  an  ollave 
builder,  &c. ;  just  as  we  have  now  doctors  of  law, 
medicine,  literature,  and  music.      The  full  course  for 

*  The  most  celebrated  of  the  monastic  schools  were  those  of 
Clonard  (in  Meath),  Armagh,  Bangor  (in  Down),  Cashel,  Mungret 
near  Limerick,  Downpatrick,  Ross-Ailithir  now  Eosscarbery  (in 
Cork),  Lismore,  Glendalough,  Clonmacnoise,  Monasterboice  near 
Drogheda,  Clonfert  (in  r.alwny),  Glasnevin  near  Dublin,  Emly 
in  Munster,  and  Begeiin  a  little  below  Wexford.  But  there  were 
many  others.     See  also  note,  page  81. 


CHAP.  XII.]  PEOGEESS  OF  LEAENING. 


93 


an  ollave  was  twelve  years :  the  lower  degrees  had 
shorter  periods.  Men  of  learning  were  held  in  great 
estimation  and  much  honoured.  They  had  many  valu- 
able allowances  and  privileges :  and  an  ollave  sat  at 
table  next  to  the  king  or  chief. 

Great  numbers  of  Irishmen  went  to  teach  and  to 
preach  the  Gospel  in  Great  Britain,  Wales,  and  Scotland. 
The  Picts  of  Scotland,  who  then  occupied  the  greatest 
part  of  the  country,  were  converted  by  St.  Columba 
and  his  monks  from  lona  ;  and  the  whole  western 
coasts  of  England  and  Wales  abound  in  memorials  of 
Irish  missionaries.  The  monastery  of  Lindisfarne  in 
Korthumbria,  which  became  so  illustrious  in  after 
ages,  was  founded  in  634  by  Aidan  an  Irish  monk  fi'om 
lona ;  and  for  thirty  years  after  its  foundation  it  was 
governed  by  him  and  by  two  other  Irish  bishops, 
Finan  and  Colman,  in  succession.  So  we  see  that  Mr. 
Lecky  had  good  reason  for  his  statement  that  "  England 
owed  a  gi^eat  part  of  her  Christianity  to  Irish  monks 
who  laboured  among  her  people  before  the  arrival  of 
Augustine." 

Whole  crowds  of  ardent  and  learned  Irishmen  travelled 
to  the  Continent,  spreading  Christianity  and  general 
knowledge  among  people  ten  times  more  rude  and  dan- 
gerous in  those  ages  than  the  inhabitants  of  these  islands. 
"  ^Tiat,  "  says  Eric,  a  well-known  French  writer  of  the 
ninth  century,  ' '  what  shall  I  say  of  Ireland,  who  de- 
spising the  dangers  of  the  deep,  is  migrating  with 
almost  her  whole  train  of  philosophers  to  our  coasts." 
Irish  professors  and  teachers  were  in  those  times  held  in 
such  estimation  that  they  were  employed  in  most  of  the 
schools  and  colleges  of  Great  Britain  and  the  Continent. 
And  Irish  teachers  of  music  were  quite  as  eminent  and  as 
much  sought  after  as  those  of  literature  and  philosophy, 


94  A  child's  niSTOKY  OF  IRELAND.       [CUAP.   XII. 

as  has  been  ali'cady  stated  (page  16).  We  know  that 
Charlemagne,  who  was  crowned  emperor  of  the  West, 
A.D.  800,  held  the  learned  men  from  Ireland  in  great 
respect,  and  often  invited  them  as  guests  to  his  table ; 
and  half  a  century  later,  Johannes  Scotus  Erigena,  i.  e. 
John  the  Irish  Scot,  the  greatest  scholar  of  his  day, 
was  on  teims  of  affectionate  intimacy  with  Charles  the 
Bald,  king  of  France.  To  this  day  in  many  towns  of 
France,  Germany,  Switzerland,  and  Italy,  Irishmen  are 
venerated  as  patron  saints.  Nay,  they  found  their  way 
even  to  Iceland ;  for  we  have  the  best  authority  for  the 
statement  that  when  the  !N'orwegians  first  arrived  at 
that  island,  they  found  there  Irish  books,  bells,  crosiers, 
and  other  traces  of  Irish  missionaries. 

For  foui'  or  five  hundi^ed  years  after  the  time  of  St. 
Patrick,  the  monasteries  were  unmolested  ;  and  learning 
was  cultivated  within  their  walls.  In  the  ninth  and 
tenth  and  the  beginning  of  the  eleventh  centuiy,  science 
and  art,  the  Gaelic  language,  and  learning  of  every 
kind,  were  brought  to  their  highest  state  of  perfection. 
But  a  change  for  the  worse  had  set  in.  The  Danish 
ini'oads  broke  up  most  of  the  schools  and  threw  every- 
thing into  disorder.  Then  the  monasteries  were  no 
longer  the  quiet  and  safe  asylums  they  had  been — they 
became  indeed  rather  more  dangerous  than  other  places, 
so  much  did  the  Danes  hate  them — and  learning  and  art 
gi'adually  declined  in  Ireland.  There  was  a  revival  in 
the  time  of  Brian  Boru  ;  but  this  too  was  arrested  by  the 
troubles  of  the  Anglo-I^orman  Invasion. 


Composed  from  the  Book  of  Kells. 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

FEOM    LAEGAIRE   TO    THE   DANES. 
(A.D.  463-637.) 

JAEGAIHE,  it  will  be  remembered,  was  son  of 

[N'iall  of  the  iN'ine  Hostages.     At  the  time 

of   bis  sudden   death   (page  64),    his   son 

Lewy  was  only  a  child  and  could  not  be 

elected   king   (page  44).      So  the   thi'one 

was   taken   by   king    Dathi's    son    Olioll 

Molt,  who  was  at  that  time  the  most  powerful  prince 

of  the  reigning  family,    though   he   was   not   of   the 

Hy  IS'eill.     Eut  after  the  lapse  of  many  years,  when 

Lewy  gi^ew  up  to  be  a  man,  he  was  determined  to  win 

back  the  crown  for  himself  and  for  his  own  immediate 

kindred :  and  collecting  a  great  army  he 

A.D.  483     defeated  and  slew  Olioll  Molt  in  a  battle 

fought  at  a  place  called  Ocha  near  Tara 

in  Meath,  and  took   possession   of   the  thi'one.     This 

great  battle  proved  decisive;  for,  after  that  date,  for 

five  centuries  without  a  break,  that  is,  from  Lewy  to 

Malachy  II.,    the   Hy  IN'eill   gave  kings   to   Ireland, 

sometimes  through  the  northern  branch  and  sometimes 

through  the  southern. 

From  the  cliffs  of  Antrim,  on  any  clear  day,  you  can 
see  the  blue  hills  and  headlands  of  Scotland,  forming  a 
long  line  on  the  distant  horizon.  The  Irish,  or  Gaels,  or 
Scots,  of  Ulster,  from  the  earliest  ages,  were  in  the 
habit  of  crossing  over  in  their  currachs  to  this  lovely- 


96  A  child's  histoey  of  leeland.    [chap.  Xlll. 

looking  coast;  and  some  carried  on  a  regular  trade 
with  Alban,  as  Scotland  was  then  called,  and  many- 
settled  there  and  made  it  their  home.  Scotland  was 
inhabited  at  that  time  by  a  people  called  the  Picts,  who 
often  attempted  to  expel  the  intruders ;  but  the  Irish 
held  their  ground,  and  as  time  went  on  they  occupied 
more  and  more  of  the  western  coast  and  islands.  Nearly 
three  hundred  years  before  the  time  we  are  now  treating 
of,  a  leader  named  Reuda  or  Riada  [Keeda],  a  grand- 
son of  Conn  the  Hundi'ed-Fighter,  and  first  cousin  of 
Cormac  Mac  Art,  settled  among  the  Picts  with  a  large 
following  of  Munster  fighting  men  and  their  families. 
From  this  Riada  all  that  western  district  in  Scotland 
was  called  Dalriada  (Riada's  portion) :  and  there  was 
an  Irish  Dalriada,  also  named  from  him,  comprising 
the  northern  part  of  Antrim.  Our  own  ancient  Irish 
writers  tell  us  all  about  this  colony;  but  we  are  not 
dependent  on  their  testimony  only ;  for  the  most  dis- 
tinguished of  the  early  English  historians,  the  Venerable 
Bede,  has  given  the  same  account  of  this  leader  Reuda 
in  his  Ecclesiastical  History.     (See  also  page  63.) 

The  greatest  of  all  these  colonisations  of  which  we 
have  any  detailed  historical  account,  took  place  in  the 

reign  of  the  present  king  Lewy,  under  the 
A.D.  503    command  of  three  brothers,  named  Fergus, 

Angus,  and  Lome,  from  the  district  of 
Dalriada  in  Ulster,  sons  of  a  chief  named  Ere,  a  direct 
descendant  of  Riada.  Riada  and  his  followers  were 
pagans;  but  these  three  brothers  and  their  people 
were  aU  Christians.  They  appear  to  have  met  with 
little  or  no  opposition  ;  and  being  joined  by  the  previous 
settlers,  they  took  possession  of  a  large  tenitoiy, 
which  was  formed  into  a  kingdom,  of  which  Fergus, 
or  Fergus  Mac  Ere  as  he  is  generally  called,  was  the 


CHAP.  XIII.]      FRO^kl  LAEGAIRE  TO  THE  DANES.  97 

first  king.  The  memory  of  these  tki'ee  princes  is  deeply 
graven  on  the  history  of  Scotland,  so  that  many  Scottish 
persons  and  places  have  been  named  from  them.  This 
colonial  kingdom  was  subject  and  tributary  to  the  kings 
of  Ireland,  and  continued  so  for  nearly  three-quarters 
of  a  century,  when  King  Aedan,  who  was  brother  of 
BrandufP,  king  of  Leinster  (page  98),  refused  to  pay 
tribute  any  longer,  or  to  acknowledge,  as  his  sovereign 
lord,  the  king  of  Ireland,  who  at  this  time  happened  to 
be  Aed  Mac  Ainmire  [An'mire]. 

In  order  to  bring  this  dangerous  dispute,  as  well 
as  other  important  matters,  to  a  settlement  by  peaceful 
arbitration,  a  convention  of  the  chief  men,  both  lay  and 
clerical,  of  Ireland  and  of  the  Scottish  colony,  was 
summoned  by  king  Aed.  This  important  meeting, 
which  is  much  celebrated  in  early  Irish  history,  was 
held  at  a  place  called  Drum-Ketta  on  the 

A.D.  5^4  river  Eoe  near  Limavady  in  Derry ;  for 
Tara  had  been  abandoned  as  a  royal  resi- 
dence some  years  previously ;  otherwise  this  Fes  would 
no  doubt  have  been  held  there.  Among  other  eminent 
men,  St.  Colnmba,  who  was  nearly  related  to  both  the 
Irish  and  the  Scottish  kings  (for  they  all  belonged  to 
the  Hy  jS'eill),  came  over  from  lona  to  take  part  in  the 
deliberations;  and  mainly  thi'ough  his  influence,  the 
king  of  Ireland  wisely  agreed  that  the  little  Scottish 
kingdom  should  be  then  and  for  evermore  independent 
of  the  Irish  monarchs.  The  people  of  this  colony,  having 
now  fi^ee  scope  for  their  energies,  ultimately  mastered 
the  whole  country.  Fergus  was  the  ancestor  of  the 
subsequent  kings  of  Scotland;  and  from  him,  through 
the  Stuarts,  descend,  in  one  of  their  lines  of  pedigree, 
our  present  royal  family. 

Another  important  matter  considered  at  this  conven- 


98  A  child's  history  of  IRELAND.     [cHAP.  XIII. 

tion  was  the  position  of  the  bards  or  poets.  As  learn- 
ing of  every  kind  was  so  much  respected  in  Ireland, 
these  bards  were  greatly  revered  and  held  in  high 
honoui'.  Eut  they  had  lately  grown  very  numerous, 
insolent,  and  troublesome.  The  ollave  poets  were  in 
the  habit  of  going  about  the  country  with  great  com- 
panies of  pupils  and  followers,  and  wherever  they  came 
they  expected  to  be  entertained — themselves  and  their 
retinue — in  great  style,  and  well  paid  by  the  chiefs 
they  visited,  who,  for  dread  of  their  bitter  lampoons, 
seldom  ventured  to  refuse  them.  They  became  at  last 
so  overbearing  and  oppressive  that  the  people  rose  up 
in  indignation  against  them :  and  at  this  meeting  of 
Drum-Ketta  many  of  the  leading  men,  including  the 
king  of  Ireland,  ui^ged  that  the  whole  bardic  order 
should  be  suppressed,  and  the  worst  among  them 
expelled  the  country.  But  here  again  Columkille 
interposed  with  a  more  moderate  and  a  better  proposal, 
which  was  agreed  to.  The  bards  and  their  followers 
were  greatly  reduced  in  number  ;  strict  rules  were  laid 
down  for  the  regulation  of  their  conduct  in  the  futui^e ; 
and  those  who  were  fit  for  it,  especially  the  oUaves  of 
learning  (page  92),  were  set  to  work  to  teach  schools, 
with  land  for  their  maintenance,  so  as  to  relieve  the 
people  from  their  exactions. 

This  king,  Aed  Mac  Ainmire,  reigned  twenty-six 
years  (572  to  598),  and  would  have  reigned  longer  had 
he  not  made  an  attempt  to  levy  the  Boru  tribute.  His 
first  demand  was  refused ;  whereupon,  collecting  his 
forces,  he  marched  into  the  heart  of  Leinster.  But  by 
a  skilful  stratagem,  Branduff,  king  of  the  province, 
with  a  much  smaller  force,  defeated  his  army  in  a  night 
surprise  at  Dunbolg  near  Dunlavin  in  Wicklow;  and 
King  Aed  himself  was  slain  while  retreating. 


CHAP.  Xm.]      FEOM  LAEGAIRE  TO  THE  BANES. 


99 


After   several    short    unimportant   reigns,    Donall, 
son   of  the    last-mentioned  king  Aed  Mac  Ainmire, 

ascended  the  throne  in  627. 
One  of  his  fii'st  acts  was 
to  expel  from  Ireland  a 
powerful  Ulster  prince 
named  Congal  Claen,  who 
had  killed  Donall's  prede- 
cessor. Congal  fled  to 
Britain  where  he  had  many 
relatives  among  the  kings 
and  chiefs  there,  who 
espoused  his  cause.  After 
an  exile  of  nine  years,  he 
retui-ned  with  a  gi^eat  army, 
determined  to  wrest  the 
thi'one  from  king  Donall ;  and  he  was  immediately 
joined  hy  his 
Ulster  partisans. 
Donall  had  how- 
ever heen  made 
aware  of  the  pro- 
jected invasion, 
so  that  he  was 
fully  prepared : 
and  marching 

north       he       con-  Horse  Soldier.' 


*  Grotesque  figures  from  the  Book  of  Kells,  7th  cf^'.dry, 
showing  some  costumes  of  the  period.  Toot  Soldier :  head-dress 
yellow  ;  coat  green  ;  breeches  very  tight,  light-blue  ;  legs  and 
feet  bare  ;  small  shield  held  by  the  left  hand ;  spear  exactly 
the  shape  of  some  of  those  preserved  in  the  National  Museum. 
Horse  Soldier :  cap  yellow  ;  cloak  green,  with  bright  red  and 
yellow  border ;  breeches  green  ;  leg  clothed  ;  foot  naked.  Horse 
covered  with  yellow  cloth.  From  Wilde's  Catalogue. 
h2 


100  A  child's  niSTORY  OP  lEELAND.      [cHAP.  XIV. 

fronted  his  enemies  at  Moyrath,   now  Moii-a  in  the 
present    county    of    Do^mi.       Here    was 
A.D.  els'     fonght   one  of  the  most  noted  and  san- 
guinary battles  recorded  in  Irish  history, 
which  lasted  for  six  successive   days,  and   terminated 
in  the  total  overthrow  of  the  invaders.      Congal  fell 
fiercely  fighting  at  the  head  of  his  forces ;  and  few  of 
his  great  army  escaped  from  the  field. 

On  the  accession  of  Finaghta  the  Festive  in  674,  he 
made  the  old  demand  on  Leinster,  and  defeated  the 
Leinstermen  when  they  rose  in  resistance.  But  the 
iniquity  of  the  Boru  tax  and  the  evils  resulting  fi'om 
it  seem  at  last  to  have  created  general  discontent :  for 
soon  after,  at  the  earnest  solicitation  of  St.  Moling  of 
Ferns,  King  Finaghta  solemnly  renounced  the  Boru  for 
himself  and  his  successors.  This  however  did  not  end 
the  trouble.  After  the  lapse  of  some  reigns  other  kings 
renewed  the  claim,  and  two  more  destructive  battles 
were  fought  on  account  of  it ;  after  which  this  ill- 
omened  tribute  gradually  fell  into  disuse,  leaving  how- 
ever an  eWl  mark  on  the  country. 


t        CHAPTER  XIV. 
THE      DANISH      WAKS. 
^^J    (A.D.  795-1013.) 
EFOEE  the  close  of  the  eighth  century  the 
Danes  began  to  make  descents  on  the 
coasts  of  Europe.     From  Jutland,  Nor- 
way,   Sweden,    and  in   general   from   the   coasts    and 
islands   of  the  Baltic,   came   forth   swarms   of  daiing 


CHAP.  xiT.]  THE  DAxrsn  -u-Aiis.  101 

robbers,  wbo  for  two  centimes  kept  the  Trbole  of 
western  Eiu-ope  in  a  state  of  continual  terror.  They 
appeared  for  tbe  first  time  on  the  Irish  coast  in  a.d. 
795,  when  they  plundered  St.  Columkille's  chui'ch  on 
Eechru  or  Lambay  Island  near  Dublin.  Once  they 
had  found  the  way,  party  after  party  continued  to 
sail  to  Ireland,  plundering  and  murdering  where- 
ever  they  came.  They  soon  found  out  that  many  of 
the  monasteries  were  rich  in  works  of  art :  such  as 
crosiers,  shrines,  books,  bells,  &c.,  ornamented  with 
much  gold,  silver,  and  precious  stones  ;  and  as  they 
hated  Christianity  and  learning  of  all  kinds,  they  had 
a  double  motive  in  seeking  out  these  establishments. 
Accordingly  they  plundered  churches,  monasteries,  and 
libraries,  both  on  the  islands  and  on  the  mainland,  and 
what  they  could  not  bring  away  they  burned  or  other- 
wise destroyed,  so  far  as  lay  in  their  power.  Their 
movements  moreover  were  so  sudden  and  quick,  that 
they  generally  made  their  escape  before  the  people  had 
time  to  intercept  them.  About  the  middle  of  the  ninth 
century  they  established  themselves  permanently  in 
Dublin,  Limerick,  and  "Waterford,  where  they  built 
fortresses. 

For  some  time  in  the  beginning  the  Danes  came  in  de- 
tached bands,  each  small  party  plundering  on  their  own 
account,  with  no  combined  action.     But  at  length  their 
scattered  forces  were  united  under  their  most  renowned 
leader,    Turgesius,  who    arrived   with   a 

A.D.  832  great  fleet,  and  was  acknowledged  leader 
by  all  the  Danes  then  in  Ireland.  Other 
fleets  soon  followed  under  his  direction ;  and  he  fixed 
his  headquarters,  first  at  Annagh,  and  afterwards  on 
Lough  Bee,  where  he  had  one  of  his  fleets ;  and  fi^om 
both   centres,  he  plundered  the  districts  all  round, 


102 


A  CtlILD*S  HISTORY  OF  IRELAND.      [cHA?.  XlV. 


nmrdering  the  iicople  and  destroying  a  vast  number  of 
churches  and  monasteries.  At  Clonmacnoise  his  queen 
Ota  desecrated  St.  Kieran's  venerated  church  by  seating 
herself  daily  on  the  high  altar,  in  derision  of  the  sacred 


Clonmacnoise  in  1825.    From  Brewer's  "  Beauties  of  Ireland, 
Drawn  by_Petrie. 


place,  and  there  performing  some  of  her  pagan  rites, 

and  giving  audience  to  her  visitors.     At  last  he  was 

defeated  and  taken  prisoner  by  Malachi, 

A.D.  845  king  of  Meath,  who  caused  him  to  be 
drowned  in  Lough  Owel  in  Westmeath. 
This  brave  king  became  Ard-ri,  as  Malachi  I.,  in  the 
following  year  (846). 

The  Danes  were  often  intercepted  in  their  murderous 
raids  and  slaughtered  without  mercy  by  the  Irish  kings 
and  chiefs :  but  this  had  not  much  effect  in  putting  a 
stop  to  tb.eir  ravages ;  for  they  were  bold  and  brave, 


CHAP.  XIV.]  THE  DAXISH  WARS.  103 

and  faced  danger  and  death  with  the  utmost  fearless- 
ness. JVIoreoyer  there  was  seldom  any  union  among  the 
Irish  chiefs,  who  often  fought  more  bitterly  against 
each  other  than  against  the  IN'orthmen ;  and  while  they 
were  fighting,  the  Danes  were  plundering.  But  there 
were  some  chiefs  of  a  more  patriotic  spirit.  Such  were 
Mall  Glunduff,  of  the  JS'orthern  Hy  lieill,  king  of 
Ireland  (916  to  919),  and  his  heroic  son  Mm^kertagh  of 
the  Leather  Cloaks.  They  attacked  the  Northmen  at 
every  opportunity,  and  defeated  them  in  several  battles, 
but  in  the  end  both  fell  fighting  against  them — jS'iall 
in  a  great  battle  fought  at  Kilmashoge  near  Dublin, 
Mui^kertagh  at  Ardee — both  dying  bravely  as  they  had 
lived,  in  conflict  with  the  enemies  of  their  country. 

In  the  second  half  of  this  tenth  century  the  tide 
commenced  to  turn  when  two  great  men  began  their, 
career : — Malachi  II.,  or  Malachi  the  Great  as  he  is 
often  called,  who  became  king  of  Ireland  in  980,  and 
Brian  Boru  king  of  Munster,  the  man  who  was  destined 
to  finally  crush  the  power  of  the  Danes  in  Ireland. 

^Tien  Brian  was  a  yoimg  man,  his  elder  brother 
Mahon  was  king  of  Munster.  Both  belonged  to  the 
Dalgas  or  Dalcassians,  a  brave  and  powerful  tribe  who 
occupied  Thomond  or  I^orth  Munster,  and  who  subse- 
quently took  the  family  name  of  O'Brien.  At  this 
time  the  Danes  held  the  chief  fortresses  of  Munster, 
including  Limerick,  Cork,  and  Waterford,  from  which 
they  constantly  issued  forth,  and  committed  di-eadful 
ravages  all  over  the  province ;  so  that  the  two  brothers, 
unable  to  withstand  them,  had  to  cross  the  Shannon  and 
take  refuge  with  their  followers  in  the  woods  and 
mountain  solitudes  of  Clare,  where  they  defended 
themselves  as  best  they  could. 

The  career  of  young  Brian  was  singularly  like  that  of 


104  A  cniLc's  nisTOPvY  of  Ireland,    [chap.  xiv. 

Alfred  the  Great  who  lived  only  a  short  time  before : 
at  first  bome  down  and  driven  to  hide  with  a  few 
followers  in  remote  fastnesses  by  the  overwhelming 
power  of  the  Danes,  but  gradually  gai-.ing  gi'ound  by 
never-failing  pluck  and  determination.  Even  the  brave 
Mahon  at  one  time  found  it  necessary  to  make  peace 
with  them  ;  but  the  fiery  young  Brian  would  have  no 
peace-dealings  with  the  Danes,  and  at  last  persuaded  his 
brother  to  call  a  general  meeting  of  the  tribe  to  consider 
what  should  be  done  to  free  the  province  from  their 
intolerable  tp\anny.  Here  the  question  was  put,  was 
it  to  be  peace  or  war :  and  the  people  answered  to  a 
man,  War,  and  demanded  to  be  led  once  more  against 
the  pirates.  Collecting  all  their  forces,  the  two  brothers 
attacked  the  Danish  anny  at  Sulcoit  or 
A.D.  988  Sollohod  near  the  present  Limerick  Junc- 
tion, routed  them  in  a  decisive  battle, 
pursued  them  all  t-he  way  to  Limerick — full  twenty 
miles — and  recovered  possession  of  the  old  city.  Mahon 
followed  up  this  success  by  defeating  the  IS'orthmen  in 
seven  battles ;  but  in  the  end  he  was  invited  to  a  con- 
ference and  assassinated  by  two  base  Irish  chiefs  aided 
by  the  Danish  king  Ivar.  Brian  was  overwhelmed 
with  gi^ief,  and  the  old  Irish  record  represents  him  as 
uttering  this  lament : — 

"  The  death  of  Mahon  is  grievous  to  me— 
The  majestic  king  of  Cashel  the  renowned ; 
Alas,  alas  that  he  fell  not  in  battle, 
Under  cover  of  his  broad  shield  : 
Alas  that  in  friendship  he  trusted 
To  the  treacherous  word  of  his  betraj^er. 
It  was  an  evil  deed  for  those  three  chiefs 
To  murder  the  great  and  majestic  king  ; 
And  if  my  hand  retains  its  power, 
They  shall  not  escape  my  vengeance 


CHAP.  XIY.]  THE  DAJs^ISH  WARS.  105 

Either  I  shall  fall — fall  viihout  dread,  without  regret — 
Or  they  will  meet  with  a  dire  fate  at  mj^  hand  ; 
I  feel  that  my  heart  will  burst 
If  I  avenge  not  our  noble  king." 

Eut  ttis  yillainous  deed  only  brouglit  a  more  powerful 
and  dangerous  rival  to  the  front,  for  now  Brian  became 
king  of  Munster ;  and  his  first  care  was  to  avenge  his 
brother's  mui'der,  which  he  did  by  defeating  and  slaying 
the  thi^ee  assassins  one  after  another.  From  that  time 
forward,  for  about  twenty-five  years,  his  life  was  one  of 
incessant  warfare,  chiefly  against  the  Danes. 

Meantime  Malachi,  in  his  own  part  of  the  country, 
was  struggling  against  the  foreigners  bravely  and  suc- 
cessfully. He  defeated  them  in  a  great  battle  at  Tara 
in  979,  the  year  before  he  was  elected  king  of  Ireland ; 
and  marching  eastwards,  he  took  Dublin  and  liberated 
2000  captives.  Some  time  afterwards  however,  the 
Danes  recovered  the  city ;  whereupon  he  again  swooped 
suddenly  down,   and  captured  and  plun- 

A.D.  996  dered  it.  Among  the  trophies  that  he 
brought  away  on  this  occasion  were  two 
heirlooms  greatly  prized  by  the  Norsemen,  the  torque  or 
collar  of  the  Norwegian  prince  Tomar — who  had  been 
killed  148  years  before — and  the  sword  of  Carlus,  who 
fell  in  battle  in  869  :  both  in  Ireland.  This  is  the 
incident  referred  to  by  Moore  in  the  words: — "  When 
Malachi  wore  the  collar  of  gold  which  he  won  fi'om  her 
proud  invader." 

For  many  years  after  Malachi's  accession  in  980,  he 
and  Brian  quaiTelled  and  fought :  but  at  length  in  998 
they  agreed  to  divide  Ireland  between  them  :  Malachi 
taking  Leth-Conn  and  Brian  Leth-Mow  (p.  61).  But 
Mailmora  king  of  Leinster  was  not  pleased  with  the 
terms  of  this  peace,  which  placed  him  under  the  autho- 


106  A  child's  history  of  IRELAND.      [CHAP.  XIV. 

rity  of  Erian  ;  for  Lcinster  was  part  of  Lcth-^fow ;  and 
in  the  very  next  year  he  and  the  Danes  of  Dublin  re- 
volted. With  on  t  delay  Brian  inarched  northwards,  and 
being  joined  by  Malachi,  encamped  at  Glenmama  near 
Dunlavin  in  Wicklow.  Here  they  were  attacked  by 
llailmora  and  Harold  the  Dane  of  Dublin ;  and  in  the 
terrible   battle  that   followed,  Brian  and 

A.D.  999  Italachi  defeated  them  and  slew  4000  of 
the  Danes  and  Leinstermen.  To  this  day 
the  neighbourhood  abounds  in  memorials  and  traditions 
of  the  battle. 

About  this  time  Brian  came  to  the  determination  to 
depose  Malachi ;  and  the  better  to  strengthen  himself  he 
made  alliance  with  those  who  had  lately  been  his  enemies. 
He  married  Gormlaith,  mother  of  the  king  of  the  Dublin 
Danes  (Sitric  of  the  Silken  Beard),  and  sister  of  Mailmora 
king  of  Leinster ;  he  gave  his  own  daughter  in  marriage 
to  Sitric  ;  and  he  took  Mailmora  into  favour. 

His  next  proceeding  was  to  invade  Malachi's  temtory, 
in  1002,  in  violation  of  the  treaty  of  foui^  years  before ; 
and  he  sent  to  him  to  demand  submission  or  battle. 
Malachi  finding  he  was  not  strong  enough  to  resist, 
rode  into  Brian's  encampment  with  merely  a  small  reti- 
nue, and  without  any  guarantee  or  promise  of  safety, 
depending  on  Brian's  honour  :  and  having  told  him 
plainly  he  would  fight  if  he  had  been  strong  enough, 
he  made  his  submission.     From  that  year, 

A.D.  1003  Brian  was  acknowledged  king  of  Ireland, 
Malachi  going  back  to  his  own  special 
kingdom  of  Meath. 

And  now  after  forty  years  of  incessant  warfare  king 
Brian  devoted  his  mind  to  works  of  peace,  like  the  great 
Alfred  of  England.  His  palace,  which  was  named  Kin- 
cora,  was  situated  on  the  high  ridge  over  the  Shannon 


CtiAl>.  XT.]      THJC  BATtti:  OF  CLONTaIIF. — l^AET  I.  lO? 

now  occupied  by  the  town  of  Killaloe.  He  rebuilt  the 
monasteries  that  had  been  destroyed  by  the  Danes,  and 
erected  bridges  and  fortresses  all  over  the  country.  He 
founded  and  restored  schools  and  colleges,  repressed 
evil-doers,  and  caused  the  laws  to  be  obeyed,  so  that 
the  country  was  less  distui'bed  and  more  prosperous 
than  it  had  been  for  a  long  time  before.  The  bright 
picture  handed  down  to  us  of  the  state  of  Ireland 
during  the  dozen  yeara  that  elapsed  fi'om  his  ac- 
cession to  the  battle  of  Clontarf,  is  illustrated  by 
the  well-known  legend,  that  a  beautiful  young  lady 
richly  di^ssed,  and  bearing  a  gold  ring  of  great  value 
on  her  wand,  traversed  the  country  alone  from  north 
to  south  without  being  molested  :  a  fiction  which 
Moore  has  embalmed  in  the  beautiful  song  ' '  Rich 
and  rare  were  the  gems  she  wore." 


CHAPTER  Xy. 

THE   BATTLE    OF    CLONTARF.* PAUT   I. 

(A.  D.  1013-1014 ) 

LTHoroH  chafing  under  Brian  Eoru's  rule, 
the  Danes  durst  not  make  any  hostile 
move,  for  the  old  king  was  stern  and 
strong,  and  while  they  hated  him  much 
they  feared  him  more.  It  is  likely  that 
in  the  long  run  they  would  have  taken  some  opportunity 

*  The  account  of  the  battle  given  in  these  two  chapters  is  taken 
mainly  from  an  ancient  Irish  chronicle  called  "  The  Wars  of  the 
Gaels  with  the  Galls  "  (of  the  Irish  with  the  Danes),  and  partly 
from  the  Norse  Saga  or  story  called  "  Burnt  Nial,"  in  which  is 
given  the  Danish  account  of  the  Lattle, 


108  A  child's  nisTOKY  of  iueland.      [ciiAr.  xv. 

to  break  out  and  attempt  his  overtlirow ;  yet  the  im- 
mediate circumstances  that  led  to  the  battle  of  Clontarf 
were  brought  about,  not  by  them,  but  by  Mailmora, 
king  of  Leinster. 

On  one  occasion  while  Mailmora  was  on  a  visit  at 
Kincora  with  the  king  his  brother-in-law,  some  bitter 
words  passed  between  him  and  ]\[urrogh,  Brian's  eldest 
son,  at  a  game  of  chess ;   so  that  he  left  the  palace  in 
anger  and  made  his  way  to  his  own  kingdom  of  Leinster, 
determined  to  rcTolt.     He  induced  some  neighbouring 
chiefs,  and  also  the  Dublin  Danes,   to  join  him  ;  and 
they  began  by  attacking  Malachi's  king- 
A.D.  1013    dom  of   Meath,    as   he   was  now  one  of 
Brian's  adherents.    Malachi  defended  him- 
self successfully  for  some  time,  but  was  at  last  obliged 
to  call  in  the  aid  of  Brian ;  and  the  war  went  on  with- 
out much  result  till  Chi-istmas,  when  the  king  returned 
to  Kincora,  determined  to  renew  the  campaign  in  the 
following  spring. 

]\Iailmora  and  the  Danish  leaders  now  began  actively 
at  the  work  of  mustering  forces  for  the  final  struggle  ; 
and  Gormlaith,  who  was  at  this  time  in  Dublin  among 
her  own  peoj^le — having  been  discarded  by  Brian  because 
she  had  taken  sides  against  himself  and  in  favour  of  the 
Danes — was  no  less  active  than  her  relatives.  Her 
son  Sitric  of  the  Silken  Beard,  Danish  king  of  Dublin, 
acting  under  her  directions,  engaged  the  services  of 
Sigui'd  earl  of  the  Orkneys,  as  well  as  of  Broder  and 
Amlaff  of  the  Isle  of  Man,  the  two  earls  of  all  the 
north  of  England,  who  promised  to  be  in  Dublin  on 
Palm^  Sunday,  the  day  fixed  on  for  the  meeting  of  all 
the  confederates.  Broder  had  once  been  a  Christian, 
but  now  worshipped  heathen  fiends  :  "  he  had  a  coat  of 
mail  on  which  no  Bteel  would  bite"  ;  he  was  both  tall 


CHAP.  XV.]      THE  BATTLE  OF  CLONTARF. — PART  I.  109 

and  strong,  and  his  black  locks  were  so  long  that  he 
tucked  them  under  his  belt.  These  two  vikings, 
Broder  and  Amlaff,  who  had  a  great  fleet  with  2000 
"  Danniarkians  "  are  described  as  "the  chiefs  of  ships 
and  outlaws  and  Danes  of  all  the  west  of  Eui'ope, 
having  no  reverence  for  God  or  for  man,  for  chui'ch  or 
for  sanctuary."  There  came  also  1000  men  covered 
with  coats  of  mail  from  head  to  foot :  a  very  formidable 
band,  seeing  that  the  Irish  fought  as  usual  in  tunics. 
Envoys  were  despatched  in  other  directions  also  :  and 
troops  of  Norsemen  sailed  towards  Dublin  from  Scot- 
land, from  the  Isles  of  Shetland,  fi'om  the  Hebrides, 
fi'om  France  and  Germany,  and  from  the  distant  shores 
of  Scandinavia. 

"While  Sitric  and  others  were  thus  successfully  work- 
ing abroad,  Mailmora  was  equally  active  at  home  ;  and 
by  the  time  all  the  foreign  auxiliaries  had  joined 
muster,  and  Dublin  Bay  was  crowded  with  theii'  black 
ships  from  the  Liffey  to  Ben  Edar,  he  had  collected 
the  forces  of  Leinster  and  arranged  them  in  thi'ee  great 
battalions  within  and  around  the  walls  of  Dublin. 

The  Irish  monarch  had  now  no  time  to  lose.  He 
assembled  his  army  about  the  17th  of  March;  and 
having  encamped  near  Xilmainham,  on  the  "Green 
of  Aha-clee "  (Dublin),  that  is,  on  the  level  grassy 
plain  now  called  the  Phoenix  Park,  he  set  fii'e  to  the 
Danish  districts  near  Dublin,  so  that  the  fierce  I^orse- 
men  within  the  city  could  see  the  countiy  the  whole 
way  from  Dublin  to  Howth  smoking  and  blazing.  And 
brooding  vengeance,  they  raised  their  standards  and 
sallied  forth  determined  to  give  battle. 

On  Thiu-sday  evening  the  king  got  word  that 
the  Danes  were  making  preparations  to  fight  next 
day — Good  Eriday.      The  good  king  Brian  was  very 


110  A  child's  history  of  IRELAND.       [CHAP.  XT. 

unwilling  to  fight  on  that  solemn  day ;  but  he  was  not 
able  to  avoid  it.  At  dawn  of  day  on  Friday,  23rd 
April,  the  Irish  army  began  their  march  from  their 
encampment  in  thi'ee  divisions.      The  van  consisted  of 

the  Dalcassians  commanded  by  MuiTOgh  ; 
A.D.  1014   next  cnmc  the  men  of  the  rest  of  Munster 

under  O'Faelan  prince  of  the  Decies ;  and 
the  forces  of  Connaught  formed  the  third  division 
under  O'Hyne  and  O'Kelly.  There  were  two  compa- 
nies brought  by  the  great  Stewards  of  Mar  and  Lennox 
in  Scotland,  who  were  related  to  the  southern  Irish, 
and  who  now  came  to  aid  them  in  their  hour  of  need. 
The  men  of  Meath,  the  southern  Hy  Neill  (p.  62),  were 
also  there  under  Malachi :  the  northern  Hy  JN'eill  took 
no  part  in  the  battle.  A  few  days  previously,  Brian's 
son  Donogh  had  been  sent  with  a  large  body  of  Dal- 
cassians to  devastate  Leinster,  expecting  to  be  back  in 
time  for  battle.  "With  that  exception  every  living 
man  of  the  old  king's  family  stood  there  that  day  to 
fight  by  his  side — all  his  sons  and  nephews,  and  his 
grandson  Turlogh,  a  youth  of  fifteen,  the  son  of 
MuiTogh.  The  ranks  were  in  very  close  order;  so 
solid  looking  that,  in  the  language  of  one  of  the  old 
records,  it  seemed  as  if  a  chariot  could  be  diiven  along 
on  their  heads. 

The  Danish  and  Leinster  forces  also  formed  three 
divisions.  In  the  van  were  the  foreign  Danes  under 
the  command  of  Broder  and  Sigurd ;  behind  these  were 
the  Danes  of  Dublin  under  a  chief  named  Duvgall ;  and 
the  Leinstermen,  led  by  Mailmora,  formed  the  third 
division.  Sitric  the  king  of  Dublin  was  not  in  the 
battle  :  he  remained  behind  to  guard  the  city.  We  are 
not  told  the  numbers  engaged :  but  there  were  probably 
about  20,000  men  on  each  side. 


CHAP.  XT.]      THE  BATTLE  OF  CLONTAEF. — PAET  L  111 

At  that  time  Dublin  city,  whicli  was  held  by  the 
Danes,  lay  altogether  south  of  the  Liffey,  the  narrow 
streets  crowding  round  the  Danish  fortress  which 
crowned  the  hill  where  now  stands  Dublin  Castle .  All  th  e 
district  on  the  north  bank  of  the  river,  from  the  Phoenix 
Park  to  Clontarf ,  now  covered  by  portions  of  the  city, 
was  open  country,  with  a  piece  of  natural  forest  called 
Tomar's  Wood  stretching  from  the  neighboui'hood  of 
Drumcondra,  on  by  Phibsborough,  towards  the  LifPey : 
and  the  only  way  to  reach  the  city  from  that  side  was 
by  Duvgall's  Bridge,  on  the  site  of  the  present  bridge 
at  the  foot  of  Church- street,  just  above  the  Four- Coui'ts. 
The  Liffey  was  then  unconfined,  and  spread  out  widely, 
and  the  sea  flowed  over  the  space  where  now  stand  the 
Custom  House,  Amiens-street,  the  jS'orthern  Eailway 
Terminus,  and  all  the  adjacent  streets  lying  between 
them  and  the  sea.  The  main  battle-ground  extended 
fi'om  about  the  present  Upper  Sackville-street  to  the 
river  Tolka,  and  beyond  along  the  shore  towards  Clon- 
tarf. The  Danes  stood  with  their  backs  to  the  sea ; 
the  Irish  on  the  land  side  facing  them.  Malachi  and 
his  men  stood  on  the  high  ground,  probably  somewhere 
about  Cabra  and  Phibsborough.  The  hardest  fighting 
appears  to  have  taken  place  round  the  fishing  weir  on 
the  Tolka,  at,  or  perhaps  a  little  above,  the  present 
Ballybough  Bridge  :  and  indeed  the  battle  is  called  in 
some  old  Irish  authorities  "  The  Battle  of  the  Weir  of 
Clontarf." 

In  the  march  from  the  camping  place  the  venerable 
monarch  rode  at  the  head  of  the  army ;  but  his  sons 
and  fiiends  prevailed  on  him,  on  account  of  his  age — 
he  was  now  seventy-three — to  leave  the  chief  command 
to  his  son  MuiTogh.  Allien  they  had'  come  near  the 
place  of    conflict,   the   army  halted ;    and  the   king, 


112  A  child's  niSTOEY  OF  IRELAND.        [cHAr.  XV, 

holding  aloft  a  crucifix  in  sight  of  all,  rode  from  rank 
to  rank  and  addi'csscd  them  in  a  few  spirited  words. 


M 


3  v4P/>        3 


Ir 


\DLraJL        A-c 
Kiltnainham 


Battle  of  Clontarf. 

Ir.     (i,  2,  3.)    Irish  army  on  march  :  in  three  divisions. 

D.     Dalcassians. 

F.      Foreign  Danes,     i,  2,  3.     Danish  army  in  three  divisions. 

M.     Malachy  with  his  Meathnien. 

Br.    Duvgalls  Bridge  :    city  near  it  with  Danish  fortress  in  centre. 

\V.     Fishing  weir,  where  young  Turlogh  was  found  drowned. 

O'C.  The  present  O'Connell  Bridge. 

The  dotted  lines  show  the  present  limits  of  city  and  river. 

He  reminded  them  that  on  that  day  their  good  Lord 
had  died  for  them;  and  he  exhorted  them  to  fight 
hravely  for  their  religion  and  their  country.  Then 
giving  the  signal  for  battle,  he  withdrew  to  his  tent  in 
the  rear. 

Little  or  no  tactics  appear  to  have  been  employed. 
It  was  simply  a  fight  of  man  against  man,  a  series  of 
hand-to-hand  encounters ;  and  the  commanders  fought 
side  by  side  with  their  men.  On  the  evening  before,  a 
Dane  named  Piatt,  one  of  the  thousand  in  armom^  had 
challenged  any  man  of  the  Irish  army  to  single  combat ; 
and  he  was  taken  up  by  Donall,  the  Great  Steward  of 
Mar.     Now  stepped  forth  Piatt  in  the  middle  space, 


CHAf.  XV.]       THE  BATTLE  OF  CLONTARF. PART  I.  113 

just  before  the  battle  began,  and  called  out  three  times 
"  Where  is  Donall  ?  "  ''  Here  I  am,  villain  !  " 
answered  Donall.  And  they  fought  in  sight  of  the 
two  armies  till  both  fell,  with  the  sword  of  each 
thi'ough  the  heart  of  the  other,  and  hands  entangled 
in  each  other's  hair. 

The  first  divisions  to  meet  were  the  Dalcassians  and 
the  foreign  Danes  ;  then  the  men  of  Connaught  and  the 
Danes  of  Dublin  fell  on  one  another ;  and  the  battle 
soon  became  general.  From  early  morning  until  sunset 
they  fought  without  the  least  intermission.  The  thou- 
sand Danes  in  coats  of  mail  were  marked  out  for  special 
attack :  and  they  were  all  cut  to  pieces ;  for  their 
armoiu'  was  no  protection  against  the  terrible  battle- 
axes  of  the  Dalcassians.  The  Danish  fortress  of  Dub- 
lin, perched  on  its  hill-summit,  overlooked  the  field ; 
and  Sitric  and  those  with  him  in  the  city  crowded  the 
parapets,  straining  their  eyes  to  unravel  the  details  of 
the  terrible  conflict.  They  compared  the  battle  to  a 
party  of  reapers  cutting  down  corn;  and  once  when 
Sitric  thought  he  observed  the  Danes  prevailing,  he 
said  triumphantly  to  his  wife.  King  Brian's  daughter 
(p.  106),  ''Well  do  the  foreigners  reap  the  field :  see  how 
they  fling  the  sheaves  to  the  ground  !  "  "  The  result 
will  be  seen  at  the  close  of  the  day,"  answered  she, 
quietly  :  for  her  heart  was  with  her  kindi^ed. 

The  old  chronicle  describes  Murrogh  as  dealing  fear- 
ful havoc.  Three  several  times  he  rushed  with  his 
household  troops  through  the  thick  press  of  the  furious 
iN'orsemen,  mowing  down  men  to  the  right  and  left; 
for  he  wielded  a  heavy  sword  in  each  hand,  and  needed 
no  second  blow.  At  last  he  came  on  earl  Sigurd,  whom 
he  found  slaughtering  the  Dalcassians ;  and  here  we 
have  some  interesting  legendary  details  from  the  Danish 
X 


114  A  CHTLB's  niSTOEY  OF  ICELAND.        [citAP.  XV. 

account  of  tlic  battle  in  the  Nial  Saga.  Sigiu'd  had  a 
banner  which  was  made  by  hii^  mother  with  all  her 
dark  art  of  heathen  witchcraft.  It  was  in  raven's 
shape  ;  and  when  the  wind  blew,  then  it  was  as  though 
the  raven  flapped  his  wings.  It  always  brought  victory 
to  Sigurd,  but  whoever  bore  it  was  doomed  to  death : 
now,  in  the  presence  of  the  Christian  host,  it  lost  the 
gift  of  victory  but  retained  its  death-doom  for  the 
bearer.  Murrogh  approached,  breaking  through  the 
ranks  of  the  Northmen,  and  slew  the  standard-bearer  : 
and  he  and  Sigurd  fought  a  hard  fight.  Sigurd  now 
calls  out  to  Hrafn  the  Eed  :  "  Eear  thou  the  banner !  " 
*'  Eear  thy  own  demon  thyself,"  replied  Hrafn.  Then 
the  earl  took  the  banner  and  put  it  under  his  cloak, 
and  again  tiu^ned  on  MuiTogh.  But  Murrogh  struck 
o:ff  his  helmet  with  a  blow  of  the  right-hand  sword, 
biu'sting  straps  and  buckles ;  and  with  the  other  felled 
him  to  the  earth — dead. 

Towards  evening  the  Irish  made  a  general  and  deter- 
mined attack ;  and  the  main  body  of  the  Danes  at  last 
gave  way :  or  as  the  Danish  Saga  expresses  it :  "  Then 
flight  broke  out  throughout  all  the  host."  Crowds  fled 
along  the  level  shore  towards  Dublin,  vainly  hoping  to 
reach  either  the  ships  or  the  bridge  leading  to  the  city, 
liut  Malachi,  who  had  stood  by  till  this  moment,  rushed 
down  with  his  Meathmen  and  cut  off  their  retreat. 
AMien  the  battle  commenced  in  the  morning  there  was 
high  tide;  and  now,  after  the  long  day,  the  tide  was 
again  at  flood,  so  that  the  ships  lay  beyond  reach  far 
out  from  shore.  The  flying  multitude  were  caught 
between  the  Meathmen  on  the  one  side  and  the  sea  on 
the  other,  with  the  vengeful  pursuers  close  behind  ;  and 
most  of  those  who  escaped  the  sword  were  driven  into  the 
sea  and  drowned.     The  greatest  slaughter  of  the  Danes 


CHAP.  XYI.]      THE  BATTLE  OP  CLOl^TAEF. — tAET  It.  115 

took  place  during  this  rout,  on  the  level  space  now 
covered  with  streets,  from  Ballybough  Bridge  to  the 
Four  Courts. 

The  rout  was  plainly  seen  by  those  on  the  parapets 
of  the  Dublin  fortress;  and  Sitric's  wife,  whose  turn 
of  triumph  had  now  come,  said  to  her  husband  with 
bitter  mockery: — "  It  seems  to  me  that  the  foreigners 
are  making  fast  for  their  inheritance — the  sea:  they 
look  like  a  herd  of  cows  galloping  over  the  plain  on  a 
sultiy  summer  day,  driven  mad  by  heat  and  gadflies : 
but  indeed  they  do  not  look  like  cows  that  wait  to  be 
milked ! "  Sitric's  brutal  answer  was  a  blow  on  the 
mouth  which  broke  one  of  her  teeth. 


CHAPTEE  XYI. 

THE  BATTLE  OF  CLONTaEF.  —  PAET  U. 

0  far  we  have  related  the  disasters  of  the 
Danes.  But  the  Irish  had  their  disasters 
also ;  and  dearly  did  they  pay  for  their 
great  victory. 

After  the  rout  of  the  Danish  main 
body,  scattered  parties  of  Danes  con- 
tinued to  fight  for  life  with  despairing 
fiuy  at  various  points  over  the  plain. 
On  one  of  these  gi'oups  came  Morrogh,  still  fighting, 
but  so  fatigued  that  he  could  scarce  lift  his  hands. 
Anrad  the  leader  of  the  band  dashed  at  him  furiously. 
]^ut  MoiTogh,  who  had  dropped  his  sword,  closing  on 
him,  grnsped  him  in  his  arms,  and  by  main  strength 
i2 


116  A  child's  niSTORY  OF  IHELANP.      [cHAP.  XVT. 

pulled  liis  armour  over  his  head;    then    getting  him 
uudcr,    he  seized  the   Norseman's   sword 
A.D.  lOl'l    and    thrust   it   three   times   through   his 
hody  to  the  very  ground.     Anrad,  writh- 
ing in  the  death  agony,  plunged  his  dagger  into  the 
prince's  side,  inflicting  a  mortal  wound.      The  Irish 
hero  lived  till  next   morning  when  he  received   the 
solemn  rites  of  the  church. 

The  heroic  boy  Turlogh,  only  fifteen  years  of  age, 
the  son  of  Murrogh,  fought  valiantly  during  the  day 
in  his  father's  division,  side  by  side  with  his  elder 
relatives.  After  the  battle,  late  in  the  evening,  he  was 
found  drowned  at  the  fishing  weir  of  the  river  Tolka, 
with  his  hands  entangled  in  the  long  hair  of  a  Dane, 
whom  he  had  pursued  into  the  tide  at  the  time  of  the 
great  flight. 

But  the  crowning  tragedy  of  the  bloody  day  of 
Clontarf  was  yet  to  come.  The  aged  king  remained  in 
his  tent  engaged  in  earnest  prayer,  while  he  listened 
anxiously  to  the  din  of  battle.  He  had  a  single  atten- 
dant, Laiten,  who  stood  at  the  door  to  view  the  field  ; 
and  close  round  the  tent  was  a  guard.  Once,  early  in' 
the  day,  the  king  asked  how  the  battle  fared.  "  The 
battalions,"  replied  Laiten,  "are  mixed  together  in 
deadly  struggle ;  and  I  hear  their  blows  as  if  a  multi- 
tude were  hewing  down  Tomar's  wood  with  heavy  axes. 
I  see  MiuTogh's  banner  standing  aloft,  with  the 
banners  of  the  Dalgas  around  it."  Then  the  king's 
cushion  was  adjusted  and  he  clasped  his  hands  in 
prayer. 

Again,  after  a  time,  he  made  the  same  anxious 
inquiry.  "They  are  now  so  mingled  that  no  li\'ing 
man  could  distinguish  them,  all  covered  as  they  are 
with  blood  and  dust,  so  that  a  father  could  scarce  know 


CHAP.  XYI.]      THE  BATTLE  OF  CLONTAEF. PART  II.  117 

his  own  son.  Many  have  fallen,  but  Murrogh's  banner 
still  stands,  moving  through  the  battalions."  "  That  is 
well,"  replied  the  king  :  "as  long  as  the  men  of  Erin 
see  that  standard  they  will  fight  with  courage  and 
valour." 

The  same  question  a  thii'd  time  towards  evening. 
"It  is  now  as  if  Tomar's  wood  were  on  fii'e,  and  the 
flames  bui'ning,  and  the  multitudes  hewing  down  the 
underwood,  lea\ang  the  tall  trees  standing.  For  the 
ranks  are  thinned,  and  only  a  few  great  heroes  are  left 
to  maintain  the  fight.  The  foreigners  are  now  defeated  ; 
but  the  standard  of  MiuTogh  has  fallen." 

"  Evil  are  those  tidings,"  said  the  old  warrior  king  : 
"  if  jMiuTOgh  is  fallen  the  valour  of  the  men  of  Erin  is 
fled,  and  they  shall  never  more  look  on  a  champion  like 
him."     And  again  he  knelt  and  prayed. 

And  now  came  the  great  rout;  and  the  guards, 
thinking  all  danger  past,  eagerly  joined  in  the  piu'suit, 
so  that  the  king  and  his  attendant  were  left  alone. 
Then  Laiten  becoming  alarmed,  said: — "Many  flying 
parties  of  foreigners  are  around  us  :  let  us  hasten  to  the 
camp  where  we  shall  be  in  safety."  But  the  king 
replied: — "  Eetreat  becomes  us  not;  I  know  I  shall 
not  leave  this  place  alive  :  and  what  avails  me,  now  in 
my  old  age,  to  sur^-i^e  MiuTogh  and  the  other  cham- 
pions of  the  Dalgas."  He  then  spoke  his  last  will  to 
the  attendant,  giving  his  property  to  various  religious 
houses,  and  directing,  as  a  farewell  mark  of  devotion  to 
the  church,  that  his  body  should  be  buried  at  Ai-magh  : 
and  after  this  he  resumed  his  prayers. 

It  happened  that  Broder,  who  had  fled  from  the 
battle-field,  came  with  some  followers  at  this  very  time 
towards  the  tent.  "I  see  some  people  approaching," 
said  Laiten.       "What  manner  of   people  are  they?" 


118  A  child's  mSTORT  OF  IRELAND.      [cHAP.  XTI. 

asked  the  king.  "  ]31uc  and  naked  people,"  replied  the 
attendant.  "  They  are  Danes  in  annour,"  exclaimed 
the  king,  and  instantly  rising  from  his  cushion,  he  drew 
his  sword.  Broder  at  that  instant  rushed  on  him  with 
a  double-edged  battle-axe,  but  was  met  by  a  blow  of 
the  heavy  sword  that  cut  off  both  legs,  one  from  the 
knee  and  the  other  fi'om  the  ankle.  Eut  the  furious 
Viking,  even  while  falling,  cleft  the  king's  head  with 
the  axe.  After  a  little  time  the  guards,  as  if  struck  by 
a  sudden  sense  of  danger,  retm-ned  in  haste :  but  too 
late.  They  found  the  king  dead,  and  his  slayer  stretched 
by  his  side  dying. 

As  to  the  numbers  killed,  the  records  differ  greatly. 
According  to  the  annals  of  Ulster  7000  fell  on  the 
Danish  side  and  4000  on  the  Irish,  which  is  probably 
about  the  truth.  Almost  all  the  leaders  on  both  sides 
were  slain,  and  among  them  Mailmora,  the  direct 
inciter  of  the  battle. 

The  battle  of  Clontarf  was  the  last  great  struggle 
between  Chi^istianity  and  heathenism.  The  news  re- 
sounded through  all  Em^ope,  and  brought  dismay  and 
terror  to  every  Ts'orse  household  from  the  Ealtic  shore 
to  their  fuiihest  settlements  in  the  south.  The  Mai 
Saga — the  Danish  chi'onicle — relates  the  whole  story  of 
the  battle  as  a  gi^eat  defeat,  and  tells  of  fearful  visions 
and  portents  seen  by  the  Scandinavian  people  in  their 
homes  in  the  north,  on  that  fatal  Good  Friday.  It 
ought  to  be  remembered  that  in  the  very  year  of  this 
great  battle,  Sweyn  the  Dane  overran  and  mastered 
England  ;  and  that  after  his  death  three  Danish  kings 
ruled  the  countiy  in  succession. 

The  body  of  King  Brian  and  that  of  his  son  Mun^ogh 
were  conveyed  with  gi'eat  solemnity  to  Armagh,  where 
they  were   interred  in  the  cathedi'al,   the  archbishop 


CHAP.  XYI.]      THE  BATTLE  OF  CLONTAEF. — PAET  II.  119 

and  the  clergy  celebrating  the   ohsequies  for  twelve 
days. 

On  Easter  Sunday  Donogh  entered  the  camp  to  find 
that  all  was  over.  As  soon  as  the  dead  had  been  buried, 
he  led  his  shattered  Dalcassian  battalions  homewards 
towards  Kincora,  bearing  their  wounded  on  litters. 
AYhen  they  had  arrived  near  Athy,  ITac  Gilla  Patrick, 
prince  of  Ossory,  an  old  enemy  of  the  Dalcassians, 
basely  marched  out  to  attack  them.  Donogh,  making 
hasty  preparations  to  meet  him,  gave  orders  that  all 
the  sick  and  wounded  should  be  placed  in  the  rear, 
with  one -third  of  the  army  to  guard  them  :  but  these 
brave  men,  feeble  as  they  were,  insisted  on  taking  part 
in  the  fight.  "  Let  stakes  from  the  neighbouring  wood 
be  fixed  in  the  ground,"  said  they,  "  and  let  us  be 
tied  to  them  for  support,  with  our  swords  in  our  hands, 
having  oiu*  woimds  bound  up  with  moss,  and  let  two 
unwounded  men  stand  by  each  of  us,  on  the  right  and 
on  the  left.  Thus  will  we  fight ;  and  our  companions 
will  fight  the  better  for  seeing  us."  It  was  done  so. 
And  when  the  Ossorians  saw  this,  they  were  struck 
with  fear  and  pity,  and  refused  point  blank  to  attack 
such  resolute  and  desperate  men :  so  that  the  Dalcas- 
sians were  permitted  to  pass  on.  This  is  the  incident 
referred  to  by  Moore  in  the  song,  "Eemember  the 
glories  of  Erian  the  brave  "  : — • 

"  Forget  not  our  wounded  companions  who  stood 
In  the  day  of  distress  by  our  side, 
"When  the  moss  of  the  valley  grew  red  with  their  blood, 
Yet  they  stirred  not  but  conquered  and  died." 

After  the  battle  of  Clontarf  and  the  death  of  Brian, 
Malachi,  by  general  consent,  took  possession  of  the 
thi'one.     He  reigned  for  eight  years  after,   and  gave 


120  A   child's  niSTORV  OF  IRELAND.    [cHAP.  XYTT. 

evidence  of  his  old  energy  by  crushing  some  risings 
of  the  Danes — feeble  expiring  imitations  of  their 
ancient  ferocious  raids — and  by  gjiining  several  victories 
over  the  Leinstermen.  He  died  in  1022,  in  the  seventy- 
third  year  of  his  age,  leaving  behind  him  a  noble 
record  of  self-denial,  public  spirit,  and  kingly  dignity. 


CHAPTER  XYII. 

THE   EVE    OF   THE   INVASION. 

(A.D.  1022-1166.) 

^^ET"WEEN  the  death  of  Malachi  II.  and  the  Anglo- 
IS'orman  invasion  about  a  century  and  a  half 
elapsed,  which  was  a  period  of  great  con- 
fusion; for  .the  provincial  kings  waged  in- 
cessant war  with  one  another,  striving  who 
should  be  Ard-ri.  At  first  the  struggle  lay 
between  the  O'Loghlins  or  Mac  Loghlins  of 
Ulster  (who  were  a  branch  of  the  O'jS'eills)  and  the 
O'Briens  of  Thomond — the  descendants  of  Brian  Boiu 
— till  at  last  the  O'Briens  went  down ;  and  next  be- 
tween the  O'Loghlins  and  the  O'Conors  of  Connaught, 
till  the  O'Conors  finally  triumphed.  These  dissensions 
so  weakened  the  country  that  the  fii'st  Anglo-JS'orman 
invaders  met  with  only  a  fitful  and  feeble  resistance, 
and  gained  a  foothold  without  any  very  great  difiiculty. 
Yet  amid  all  this  turmoil,  the  Irish  kings  continued  to 
patronise  and  encoui'age  learning  and  art,  as  is  proA  ed 
by  works  still  remaining,  several  of  which  are  figuied 
in  this  chapter. 

During  this  time  there  were  eight  provincial  kings 
w  ho  are  commonly  set  down  as  kings  of  Ireland ;  but 


CHAP.  XYII.]  THE  EVE  OF  THE  I^-YASIOX. 


121 


not  one  of  them  made  any  pretence  to  rule  the  whole 
country :  to  every  one  there  was  opposition — a  refusal 
to  acknowledge  his  authority — from  some  one  or  more 
of  the  provinces.  Hence  these  eight  are  known  in 
history  as  "kings  with  opposition." 

The  first  was  Donogh,  king  of  Munster,  son  of  Erian 
Boru,  who  mastered  all  Ireland  except  Ulster,  on  which 

he  never  made  any 
attempt.     After 
some  years  he  was 
deposed    hy  rivals, 
and  went  on  a  pil- 
grimage  to   Rome, 
where  he  died.     At 
the  time  of  his  de- 
position (1064),  the 
most    powerful    of 
the      provincial 
kings   was  Dermot 
Mac    Mailnamo, 
king    of    Leinster, 
who  is  regarded  as 
the   second   of  the 
kings      with 
opposition. 
Immediately 
on  his  death 
(1072),   Tur- 

The  beautiful  and  costly  Shrine  here  represented  was  made  lf^o•Vl  O'T^ricD 
by  order  of  King-   Donall  O'Loghlin   (page   123)  to  cover  the  &  ' 

venerable  little  iron  bell  of  St.  Patrick.     Both  Shrine  and  Bell  kiu^"  of  IMUU- 
are  in  the  National  Museum,  Dublin.      Shrine  loYz  inches  high. 

From  Miss  Stokes's  "  Christian  Inscriptions,"  II.  no.  StCr,        graud- 

son  of  Brir.n 
Boru,  asserted  his  claim  to  the  supreme  monarchy  ; 
and  he  is  reckoned  the  thii'd  ''king  with  opposition." 


122 


A  child's  history  of  IRELAND.    [cHAr.  XTII, 


He  reduced  all  Ireland  except  Ulster  :   but  when  he 
marched  north,  the  Ulstermen  routed  him  at  Ardee, 


Church  at  Killaloe,  Murkertaghs  burial-place.     From  Petrie's  " Round  Towers." 

so  that  he  had  to  make  a  hasty  retreat  back  to  ITunster. 
Tmiogh's  son,  Mui'kertagh  O'Brien,  succeeded  as  king 
of  Munster  (1086) ;    and  in  pushing  his  claim  to  the 


CHAP.  XVn.]  THE  EVE  OF  THE  IXVASION". 


123 


throne  of  Ireland,  he  was  opposed  by  an  equally  power- 
ful claimant,  Donall  O'Loghlin,  king  of  Ulster,  of  the 
princely  family  of  O'iS'eill.  For  more  than  a  quarter 
of  a  centuiy  these  two  distinguished  princes  contended 
for  supremacy,  and  the  contest  remained  undecided  to 
the  last,  so  that  both  are  counted  kings  of  Ireland. 
Both  finally  retired  to  monasteries,  where  they  ended 
their  lives,  Mui'kertagh  at  Lismore  in  1119,  and  Donall 
at  Derry  in  1121.  AVith  Murkertagh  passed  away  for 
ever  the  predominance  of  the  O'Erien  family. 

Down  to  ]\Iurkertagh's  time  Cashel  was  the  chief 
seat  of  the  kings  of  Munster,  who  had  their  residence 
in  a  great  military  dun  on  the  rock.     Eut   this  king 


Rock  of  Cashel  (top  of  Round  Tower  appears  to  the  right).    From  Brewer's 
"  Beauties  of  Ireland."    Drawn  by  Petne. 

granted  "  Cashel  of  the  kings,"  as  it  is  called  in  the 
old  records,  to  the  church,  and  changed  his  residence  to 
Limerick,  which  fi'om  that  time  forth  continued  to  be 
the  seat  of  the  Thomond  kings.     As  soon  as  Cashel  had 


124 


A  child's  history  of  IRELAND.    [cHAP.  XVII. 


come  into  the  possession  of  the  cliurcb,  those  buildings 
began  to  be  erected,  the  remains  of  wliich  now  form  one 
of  the  most  interesting-  groups  of  ecclesiastical  ruins  in 
the  kingdom. 

The  O'Conors,  kings  of  Connaught,  had  been  all  this 
time  gaining  power  and  influence :    and  after  the  death 

of  the  two 
last  mentioned 
kings,  Turlogh 
0  Conor  claimed 
to  be  king  of 
Ireland.  He 
first  reduced 
all  Munster, 
though  only 
after  a  severe 
struggle  with 
one  of  the 
O'Briens, during 
which  the  coun- 
try was  torn  by 
feuds,  and  more 
especially  the 
two  provinces 
in  dispute.  His 
next  opponent 
was  Murker- 
tagh  O'Loghlin 
king  of  Ulster : 
and  these  two,  who  are  both  reckoned  as  kings  of 
Ireland,  contended  till  the  death  of  Turlogh  which 
occurred  in  1156.  It  was  by  Turlogh's  order  (while 
king  of  Connaught)  that  the  Cross  of  Cong  was  made. 
(See  this  cross  described  at  page  15.) 


The  Cross  of  Cong.    From  Miss  Stokes's  "  Early  Christian 
Art  in  Ireland." 


CiSAP.  XYII.]  THE  EVE  OF  THE  INVASION".  125 

Turlogli's  son  Hory,  or  as  lie  is  more  commonlv 
called,  Eoderick  0' Conor,  took  np  the  quarrel  against 
O'Loghlin,  who  however  defeated  and  reduced  him  to 
submission.  But  after  O'Loghlin's  death,  Roderick, 
having  now  no  rival  of  any  consequence,  was  made 
Ard-ri.     He  was  the  last  native  king  of 

A.D.  1166  Ireland ;  and  in  his  reign  occuiTed  the 
most  important  events  in  the  long  history 
of  the  country,  which  will  he  related  in  the  following 
chapters. 

Diuing  this  century  and  a  hali  we  hear  little  of  the 
Danes.  After  the  battle  of  Clontarf  no  attempt  was 
made  to  expel  them,  so  that  they  remained  in  the 
country ;  but  fi'om  that  time  forward  they  gave  little 
trouble.  Long  before  the  period  we  have  now  arrived  at 
they  had  become  Christians,  had  settled  down  like  the 
rest  of  the  people,  and  devoted  themselves  to  industry 
and  commerce.  At  the  time  of  the  Invasion  they 
formed  a  large  part  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  seaport 
towns — Dublin,  Caiiingford,  Larne,  Wexford,  AYater- 
ford,  Limerick,  Cork,  &c.,  some  of  which  were  governed 
by  Danish  chiefs,  in  a  great  measure  or  altogether 
independent  of  the  Irish  princes.  Their  towns  were 
walled  and  fortified,  while  those  of  the  natives  con- 
tinued, after  the  Irish  fashion,  open  and  unprotected. 
Although  living  very  much  apart,  they  intennarried  a 
good  deal  with  the  natives,  stood  on  the  whole  on  good 
terms  with  them,  and  at  first,  as  we  shall  see,  generally 
took  sides  with  them  against  the  new  invaders. 

Though  most  of  the  great  educational  establishments 
had  been  broken  up  dui'ing  the  Danish  ravages,  many 
rose  from  their  ruins  or  held  their  ground.  There  was 
a  re\'ival  of  learning  and  art  in  the  time  of  Brian  Boru, 
which  continued  after  the  Danes  had  been  crushed 


H6 


A  child's  HISTOKT  of  IRELAND.    [cnAP.  XVtf. 


at  Clontarf.  Even  to  the  beginning  of  the  twelfth 
century  Ireland  still  retained  some  i)ortion  of  her 
ancient  fame  for  learning ;  and  we  find  the  schools  of 
Armagh,  Lismore,  Clonmacnoise,  Monasterhoice,  and 
others,  still  attracting  great  numbers  of  students,  many 
of  them  foreigners.  Moreover,  some  of  tlie  greatest 
scholars  and  writers  the  country  ever  produced  flourished 
at  this  time,  whose  works  we  still  have  in  our  old  books ; 
and  Irishmen  still  continued  to  distinguish  themselves 
on  the  Continent.  Ai't  too  was  successfully  cultivated 
in  spite  of  all  discoui'agements :  and  we  have  seen  that 
the  exquisitely  executed  Cross  of  Cong  was  made  in 
1123. 

The  Anglo-Normans,  who  are  henceforward  to  play 
a  leading  part  in  oiu^  history,  were  a  great  race,  valiant, 


Dominican  Abbey,  Kilmallock,  Co.  Limerick.    Founded  in  1291  by  Gilbert  Fitzgerald. 
From  "Kilkenny  Archaeological  Journal,"  1879-82,  p.  710. 

high-spirited,  full  of  talents  and  full  of  energy.  They 
were  great  builders,  and  filled  England  and  Ireland 
with  splendid  castles,  monasteries,  and  cathedrals,  many 


CtrAl>.  xrn.]      the  eve  of  the  nfVASioN". 


12V 


of  which  still  remain  to  bear  witness  to  the  grand  ideas 
of  their  founders.  Eut  it  is  as  mighty  warriors  that 
they  are  best  known.  Besides  being  personally  brave 
and  daring,  they  were  very  skilful  in  the  sort  of  warfare 
and  fighting  suited  to  those  times.  They  wore  coats  of 
mail,  were  celebrated  for  their  skill  in  archery,  using 
both  the  long  and  the  cross  bow ;  and  what  more  than  all 
helped  to  their  success  in  war,  they  were  under  perfect 
discipline  on  the  field  of  battle.  Eut  with  all  their 
noble   qualities    they   were 

cruel  and  merciless  to  those  CiAn/TTU^  11 C 

who  resisted  them."^' 

The  Irish  mode  of  going 
to  battle  was  totally  dif- 
ferent. They  were,  man 
for  man,  as  brave  and  as 
expert  in  the  use  of  their  n   C^' 

weapons  as  the  Anglo -!N"or- 
mans,    quite    as    tall    and  ■^^'' 
muscular,    as    fearless    and  ^y^",--^^  "^       {i 
valiant.    The  Irish  soldiers,  "yVT^   SWY  ^^Sl^V 
especially  the  Galloglasses,  ^         f     ■    J^T/T! 
are  praised  by  many  English  *  ^  6/  ^ 


Swyri 

loch,. 


writers,      one     of     whom,     in  Two  Calloglasses  depicted  on  a  Map  of 

From 


fhp     Ififh      PPTlfnrv       <;ov<;    of     I'-e'and  of  1567.     From  "  State  Papers  of 
me     iOin     CentUiy,      says    01     Henry  VIII.-    Ireland,  vol.  ii. 

them  : — "  The  Galloglasses 

are   picked   and    selected   men    of   great   and   mighty 


*  It  ought  to  be  observed  here  that  the  first  of  the  adventurers 
to  arrive  in  Ireland  were  not  ^^2^/0- Normans  but  AVelsh- 
Normans.  For  their  ancestors  had  settled  in  Wales  and  had 
intermarried  Avith  the  Welsh  chiefs  and  princes,  so  that  Strong- 
box', the  Geraldines,  the  De  Burgos,  and  others,  were  half 
Welsh  half  Norman.  But  as  time  went  on,  Anglo-Normans 
came  over  in  great  numbers  from  various  parts  of  England. 


128  A  CniLD^S  HISTORY  OF  IRELAND.    [cHAP.  XVII 

bodies,  cnicl  without  compassion.  The  greatest  force 
of  the  battle  consisteth  in  their  choosing  rather  to 
die  than  to  yield,  so  that  when  it  cometh  to  handy 
blows  they  are  quickly  slain  or  win  the  field." 
Another  writer,  speaking  of  the  Irish  soldiers,  says  : — 
"  Ko  man  at  arms,  be  he  ever  so  well  mounted,  can 
overtake  them,  they  are  so  light  of  foot.  Sometimes 
they  leap  from  the  ground  behind  a  horseman  and  em- 
brace the  rider  so  tightly  that  he  can  no  way  get  rid 
of  them."  Spenser,  writing  in  the  sixteenth  century, 
says  : — "  [The  Irish  soldiers]  are  very  valiaunt,  and 
hardie,  for  the  most  part  great  indurers  of  colde,  labour, 
hunger,  and  all  hardnesse,  very  active  and  strong  of 
hand,  very  swift  of  foot,  very  vigilant  and  circumspect 
in  their  enterprises,  very  present  [?'.  e.  having  presence 
of  mind]  in  perils,  very  great  scorncrs  of  death." 

But  the  Irish  fighting  men  lacked  the  great  tac- 
tical skill  of  their  opponents,  their  discipline  was 
loose,  and  they  fought  rather  in  crowds,  than  in 
regularly  arranged  ranks.  They  had  no  walled  cities. 
Their  sui^est  defence  was  the  nature  of  the  country, 
full  of  impassable  bogs  and  forests ;  and  their  best 
plan  of  warfare  was  to  hang  on  the  fianks  and  rear 
of  an  invading  army  and  harass  them  as  opportunity 
offered,  retreating,  when  hard  pressed,  to  their  fast- 
nesses, whither  no  enemy  could  follow.  So  long  as 
they  kept  to  this  they  could,  and  often  did,  hold  their 
own,  even  against  superior  numbers.  But  in  open 
fighting  their  tunic-clad  crowds  were,  number  for 
number,  no  match  for  the  steel-cased  Angio-jS'ormnn 
battalions.  Kevertheless,  as  time  went  on  they  gradu- 
ally learned  the  Anglo- jS'orman  methods  of  warfare,  and 
often  turned  them  succcssfullv  airainst  the  invaders. 


^-^ ^„ ^kL (i^ 


Sculpture  on  a  Capital :  Priest's  House,  Glendalough :  Beranger,  1779. 
From  Petrie's  "  Round  Towers." 


CHAPTER  XYIII. 

THE    AI^GLO-NOEMAN   rN-TASION-. 
(A.D.  1166-1173.) 

jmma  the  time  that  the  two  0' Conors  Were 
struggling  with  Mmkertagh  O'Loghlin 
(pages  124,  125),  Dermot  Mac  Murrogh 
was  king  of  Leinster.  This  Dermot,  who 
was  afterwards  often  called  Dermot-na- 
Gall  (of  the  English),  is  descrihed  by 
Camhrensis  as  ''a  tall  man  of  .stature, 
and  of  a  large  and  great  bodie,  a  valiant  and  bold 
warrior  in  his  nation ;  and  by  reason  of  his  continuall 
halowing  and  crieng  [in  battle]  his  voice  was  hoarse : 
he  rather  choce  to  be  feared  than  to  be  loved :  a  gi^eat 
oppressor  of  his  nobilitie,  but  a  great  advancer  of  the 
poore  and  weake.  To  his  owne  people  he  was  rough  and 
greevous,  and  hatefuU  to  strangers ;  he  would  be  against 
all  men,  and  all  men  against  him"  (Old  translation). 
He  was  a  headstrong  and  passionate  man,  and  was  as 
much  hated  in  his  own  day  as  his  memory  has  been 
hated  ever  since.  Yet  with  all  his  evil  qualities  he 
founded  many  churches  and  encoui'aged  learning.  In 
1152  he  carried  off  Dervorgilla  the  wife  of  Ternan 
O'Ruarc  prince  of  Brefney,  while  O'Ptuarc  himself  was 
absent  from  home ;    and  she  took  away  all   she  had 


130 


A  child's  niSTOKT  OF  IRELAND.     [cHAP.  XTin. 


brought  to  her  husband  as  dowry.  O'Ruarc  appealed 
for  redress  to  Tnrlogh  O'Conor  king  of  Ireland,  who  in 
1153  marched  with  an  army  into  Leinster  and  forced 
Dermot  to  restore  Dervorgilla  and  all  her  rich  dowry. 
This  woman  retired  after  a  little  time  to  the  abbey  of 
Mellifont,  where  she  spent  the 
rest  of  her  days  doing  works 
of  penitence  and  charity,  and 
where  she  died  in  1193  at  the 
age  of  eighty-five. 

At  last  Dermot's  conduct  be- 
coming unbearable,  he  was  de- 
posed and  banished  by  King 
Roderick  O'Conor,  O'Euarc,  and 
others  (a.d.  1166);  whereupon, 
breathing  vengeance,  he  fled 
across  the  sea,  resolved  to  seek 
the  aid  of  the  great  King  Henry 
II.  of  England. 

Many  years  before  this  time, 
Pope  Adi'ian  lY.,  an  English- 
man, influenced  by  an  unfair'  and 
exaggerated  account  of  the  evil 
state  of  religion  in  Ireland  given 
to  him  by  an  envoy  of  King 
Henry,  issued  a  bull  authorising 
the  king  to  take  possession  of 
Ireland.  Some  writers  have 
questioned  the  issue  of  this  bull. 
But  the  evidence  is  so  strong  on 
the  other  side  as  to  leave  no 
good  reason  to  doubt  that  the  pope  did  really  issue  it, 
believing  that  it  would  be  for  the  advancement  of  reli- 
gion and  for  the  good  of  Ireland. 


Dermot  Mac  Miirrogh;  From 
the  MS.  of  Giraldus  Cambrensis 
(A.D.  i20o),  mentioned  under 
the  Scribe  at  p.  87.  Reproduced 
here  from  Wilde's  Catalogue. 


CHAP.  XTIII.]     THE  ANGLO-T^OEMAN  INVASION. 


131 


Dermot  presented  himself  before  the  king  at  Aqui- 

taine,   and  prayed  him   for  help  against  his  enemies, 

offering  to  acknowledge  him  as  lord  and 

A.D.  1168    master.      The  king  eagerly  accepted  the 

offer ;   but  being  then  too  busy  with  the 

affairs  of  his  own  kingdom  to  go  to  Ireland  himself,  he 

gave  permission  to  any  of  his  British  or  French  subjects 

that  pleased  to  join  the  Irish  king.    Dermot  immediately 

proceeded  to  Bristol,  where  he  engaged  the  services  of 


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".",    ^C^[ 

Mellifont  Abbey  in  1791.     From  Grose's  "  Antiquities  of  Ireland." 


Richard  de  Clare  earl  of  Pembroke,  better  known  by 
the  name  of  Strongbow;  who  agreed  to  help  him  on 
condition  that  he  should  get  Dermot's  daughter  Eva  in 
marriage,  and  should  succeed  him  as  king  of  Leinster. 
At  St.  David's  in  Wales  he  engaged  a  number  of  the 
Geraldines,  among  them  Maurice  Fitzgerald  and  Eobert 
Fitzstephen,  to  whom  he  promised  the  town  of  Wexford 
and  the  adjoining  district.  After  this  Dermot  returned 
k2 


132 


A  child's  history  of  IRELAND.     [cHAP.  XVIII. 


to  Ferns,  his  capital,  where  he  remained  during  the  win- 
ter of  1168,  concealed  in  the  Augustinian  monasteiy 
founded  by  himself. 


Augfustinian  Monastery,  Ferns.     From  "Journal  of  Royal  Society  of 
Antiquaries,"  1895,  p.  404.    Wakeman. 


In  fulfilment  of  his  engagement,  Eobert  Fitzstephen, 

with  a  companion   adventurer,    Maurice   Prendergast, 

landed  in  the  month  of  May  at  the  harbom- 

A.D.  1169   of   Bannow  in  Wexford,  with  a  force  of 

100  knights  and  600  archers,  with  common 

soldiers  and  attendants,  amounting  in  all  to  about  2000 

men :  while  Maurice  Fitzgerald  and  others  made  their 

preparations   to  follow.     Having  been  joined  by  Der- 

mot  and  his  son  Donall  Kavanagh,  the   united  forces 

marched  on   the   town  of  "Wexford ;  and   Fitzstephen 

sti'aightway  led  his  troops  to  scale  the  walls,     But  the 


CJlAl'.  XVlll.J     THE  AJVOLU-AOlCMAJV  IJS'VASIOK.  l'6'6 

townsmen  resisted  so  valiantly,  hui'ling  down  gi'eat 
stones  and  beams  of  timber  on  the  assailants'  heads,  that 
he  was  forced  to  withdi-aw,  leaving  many  of  his  men 
dead  beneath  the  walls ;  and  going  to  the  strand  he  set  fire 
to  all  the  ships  he  found  lying  there.  jSText  morning 
when  he  was  about  to  renew  the  assault,  the  clergy,  wish- 
ing to  avoid  fui'ther  bloodshed,  pui'suaded  the  people  to 
yield  up  the  town ;  and  Dennot's  subjects  veiy  unwill- 
ingly placed  themselves  again  under  the  authority  of 
their  hateful  old  king.  After  this,  Dermot  carried  out  his 
promise  by  making  large  grants  of  land  to  Fitzstephen 
and  others — land  which  he  had  no  right  to  give  away, 
for  it  belonged  not  to  him  but  to  the  people  (p.  46). 
And  having  an  old  grudge  against  his  neighboui',  Mac 
Gilla  Patrick  king  of  Ossory,  he  and  the  strangers 
ravaged  that  district  with  fire  and  sword,  though  not 
without  spirited  resistance. 

When  King  Roderick  0' Conor  heard  of  these  proceed- 
ings, he  became  alanned,  and  collecting  a  large  army  he 
marched  to  Ferns,  where  he  found  Dennot  and  his 
allies  strongly  entrenched.  Eut  Eoderick  was  a  feeble- 
minded king,  having  none  of  the  spirit  or  vigour  of 
Mall  Glunduff  or  Brian  Boru  of  the  olden  time ;  and 
instead  of  promptly  crushing  the  rebellious  king  and  his 
small  party  of  foreigners,  as  he  might  have  done,  he 
made  peace  with  him,  and  restored  him  to  his  kingdom, 
on  condition  that  he  should  send  home  the  strangers, 
and  bring  hither  no  more  of  them.  The  treacherous 
Dennot  had  no  intention  of  keeping  to  this  treaty: 
he  merely  wanted  to  gain  time;  and  when  Maui'ice 
Fitzgerald  landed  soon  afterwards,  the  whole  party, 
natives  and  foreigners,  marched  on  Dublin,  and  forced 
the  Danish  king  Hasculf  Mac  Turkill  to  submit  to 
them. 


i34 


A  child's  history  of  IRELAND.     [CHAP.  XVIlt. 


At  last  Dermot  resolved   to  make  himself   king  of 
Ireland,  and  sent  a  pressing  message  to  Strongbow  to 
come   over.      Strongbow   embarked   with 
A.D.  liyo    an   army   of   3000   men,    and   landed,  in 
August,  near  Waterford.     He  was  imme- 
diately joined  by  Raymond  Fitzgerald,  better  known  as 
Raymond  le  Gros  (the  corpulent),  the  bravest  and  most 
distinguished  of  all  his  officers — who  had  come  over  some 


Reginald's  Tower.     From  Newenham  s  "  Picturesque  Views  of  Ireland." 

time  before — by  Miles  de  Cogan,  and  by  Dermot :  and 
with  the  combined  army  of  about  5500  men  they 
attacked  and  captured  the  city  of  Waterf  ord,  slaughter- 
ing gi'eat  numbers  of  the  inhabitants.  The  Danish  chief 
Reginald,  and  OTaelan  prince  of  the  Decies,  were 
taken  prisoners  and  locked  up  in  an  old  Danish  castle, 
then  and  still  called  Reginald's  tower ;  but  as  they  were 
about  to  be  executed  Dermot  interposed  and  saved  them. 
After  the  fight,  and  while  the  streets  still  ran  red  with 


CHAP.  XVIII.]     THE  ANGLO-NORMAN  INVASION.  135 

the   blood  of  the  citizens,    Strongbow  and   Eva  were 
married  in  fulfilment  of  Dermot's  promise. 

Scarcely  had  the  ceremony  ended  when  news  came 
that  Hasculf  of  Dublin  had  revolted ;  whereupon 
Strongbow  and  Dermot  set  out  for  Dublin  with  an  army 
of  5000  men;  and  instead  of  going  round  by  the 
level  country  where  they  might  be  intercepted,  these 
men  of  iron  fi'ames  marched  straight  over  the  Wicklow 
Mountains,  by  Glendalough,  making  their  way  through 
difficult  passes,  bogs,  and  forests ;  and  the  first  intelli- 
gence the  people  of  Dublin  had  of  their 
A.D.  11  fO  movement  was  to  see  the  army  defiling 
down  the  hill  slopes  towards  the  city. 
Terrified  beyond  measiu-e,  the  citizens  sent  theii'  saintly 
and  illustrious  archbishop  Laurence  0' Toole,  with 
conditions  of  surrender.  But  even  while  the  conference 
was  going  on,  and  after  the  conclusion  of  a  truce,  Ray- 
mond le  Gros  and  Miles  de  Cogan,  with  a  band  of 
followers,  forced  their  way  into  the  city,  and  falling  on 
the  unresisting  citizens,  massacred  them  without  mercy. 
Hasculf  escaped,  and  Dermot  and  Strongbow  remained 
in  possession  of  the  city.  Of  the  arch  traitor  Dermot 
Mac  MuiTogh  we  shall  hear  no  more  in  this  History  :  for 
he  died  in  the  following  year  (1171)  at  Ferns  in  the 
sixty-first  year  of  his  age. 

The  fame  of  the  great  conquests  made  by  Strongbow 
got  noised  abroad,  so  that  it  came  to  the  ears  of  King 
Henry.  Pearing  that  Strongbow  might  make  himseK 
king,  he  issued  an  edict  forbidding  further  intercourse 
with  Ireland  :  and  at  the  same  time  he  began  to  pre- 
pare for  his  own  expedition.  This  reduced  Strongbow 
and  his  army  to  great  distress  in  Dublin  :  for  they  were 
unable  to  procure  either  men  or  provisions,  as  all 
supplies  from   over  sea  were  stopped.     And  a  worse 


186  A  CHILD  S  HISTOKY  OF  IRELAND.     [CHAl'.  XVlll. 

danger  now  tlireatened  them.  The  patriotic  archbishop 
Laurence  0' Toole  went  through  the  country  and  per- 
suaded the  kings  and  chiefs  to  unite  in  an  attempt  to 
crush  the  invaders ;  and  a  great  army  was  soon  encamped 
in  separate  detac}jments  round  about  the  city,  under 
King  Roderick's  command.  After  two  months'  siege,  the 
gan-ison,  with  hunger  staring  them  in  the  face  and  no 
hope  of  relief,  came  to  the  resolution  to  attempt  to  cut 
their  way  in  a  body  through  the  enemy,  and  so  escape. 
About  3  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  the  desperate  little 
band,  600  Anglo-iS'ormans  with  some  Irish  under 
Donali  Ivavanagh,  suddenly  sallied  out  and  took  the 
Irish  completely  by  surprise  ;  and  the  king  himself,  who 
happened  to  be  in  his  bath  at  the  time,  escaped  with 
much  difficulty  half  naked  from  the  field.  The  panic 
spread  rapidly,  so  that  the  various  scattered  contin- 
gents broke  up  and  fled.  And  the  gamson  returned 
triumphant  to  the  city,  laden  with  booty,  and  with 
provisions  enough  for  a  whole  year. 

^Meantime  King  Heniy  had  been  busily  preparing; 
and  on  the  18th  October,  he  landed  at  Crook  a  little 

below  Waterf  ord,  with  many  of  his  nobles, 
A.D.  Jljl     and  an  army  of  4400  knights  and  men  at 

aiTQs.  Counting  common  soldiers  and 
attendants,  he  probably  had  10,000  fighting  men.  To 
resist  such  a  force  was  out  of  the  question  :  and  most  of 
the  Irish  princes  and  chiefs  made  their  submission  to 
him.  He  now  rewarded  his  followers  by  grants  of 
largr  :.racts  of  country,  giving  away  the  lands  belonging 
to  '>  J  natives  without  the  least  scruple.  Leinster  was 
giaiited  to  Strongbow,  with  the  exception  of  Dublin 
and  some  other  maritime  towns ;  the  province  of  Meath 
i<:  Hugh  de  Lacy  ;  and  Ulster  to  John  de  Coui'cy.  In 
i:i-  the  chief  towns  he   left   governors.     He   granted 


CHAP.  XVIII.]     THE  ANGLO-NOliMAN   INVASIOiN. 


137 


Dublin  to  a  colony  of  Bristol  people,  with  De  Lacy  as 
governor,  who  is  generally  regarded  as  the  first  vice- 
roy of  Ireland.*     Having  completed  these 
A.D.  1172    arrangements,  the  king  emharked  at  Wex- 
ford in  April   and  retumed  to  England. 
From  the  moment  of  his  departure  his  arrangements 
^^:j^      were   all    disregarded ;    and  his  fol- 
^        lowers  did  just  as  they  pleased,  plun- 
dering and  harassing  the  unfortunate 
natives  without  mercy  and  without 
restraint.    But  the  natives  were  now 
beginning  to  profit  by  the  skill  of 
tlieir    adversaries, 
and  often  success- 


fully defended 
themselves.  On 
one  occasion  Strongbow,  re- 
tm-ning  from  a  plundeiing  raid 
thi'ough  Offaly,  was  intercepted 
by  its  chief,  O'Dempsey,  and 
defeated,  a  great  number  of  his 
men,  with  his  son-in-law  De 
Quenci,  being  slain.  As  the  dis- 
turbances continued,  the  king 

rousers ;  nair  •     j      n       oj_  i 

and  beard  long  ;  head  bare.    From     appOmteQ      btrOUgDOW     VlCei'Oy 

in  the  following  year — 1173 — 
hoping  that  by  increasing  his  authority  he  might  be 
able  to  reduce  the  country  to  quietness. 

*  The  governors  of  Ireland  at  that  time,  and  for  centuries  after, 
were  designated  by  various  titles,  sucli  as  viceroy,  lieutenant, 
lord  Heutenant,  lord  justice  or  justiciary,  governor,  etc.  A  person 
appointed  to  govern  temporarily  in  place  of  an  absent  lord  lieu- 
tenant or  viceroy  was  designated  deputy  or  lord  deputy.  The 
govemor,  by  whatever  name  he  was  called,  had  a  number  of 
persons,  called  a  Council,  to  assist  him  by  their  advice :  a  prac- 
tice which  has  continued  to  the  present  day. 


Figure  in  the  iJluminated  MS.  copy 
of  Giraldus  Cambrensis  mentioned 
under  Scribe  at  p.  87,  showing  cos- 
tume and  sparth  or  battle-axe  of  the 
period  (A.D.  1200).  Olive -green 
mantle  ;  light-brown  trousers  ;  hair 
and  beard  long  ;  h( 
Wilde's  Catalogue. 


ljl!|!]'!Tii'ii|ii|||||iiiiiiijl|liiiiiiiV:;:'"fM'i''"' ■■'^":1 


Sculpture  on  Window  :  Cathedral  Church,  Glendalough  :  Beranger,  1779. 
From  Petrie's  "  Round  Towers." 


CHAPTER   XIX. 

THE     ANGLO-IRISH     LOKDS. 
A.D.  1173-1176.-Henry  II. 

osT  of  the  adventurers  who  settled  in  Ireland 
in  the  time  of  Hemy  II.  belonged  to  good 
families  of  ancient  and  honourable  descent. 
But  nearly  all  of  them  were  men  who  had 
run  thi'ough  their  estates  b  y  extravagance; 
and  being  brave  and  daring  as  well  as  poor,  they  were 
ready  to  engage  in  any  enterprise,  however  dangerous, 
that  held  out  a  hope  of  retrieving  their  fortunes. 
After  they  had  settled  down  in  Ireland  in  the  districts 
granted  them  by  the  king,  they  became  gi'eat  and 
powerful,  and  from  them  the  chief  Anglo-Irish  families 
were  derived.  Among  these  the  most  distinguished 
were  the  Geraldines  (Fitzgeralds,  Barrys,  Cogans, 
Graces,  and  others) ;  the  Butlers ;  and  the  De  Burgos 
(Burkes,  Mac  Williams,  Mac  Davids,  &c.).  Maui'ice 
Fitzgerald  was  the  chief  founder  of  the  family  of  the 
Geraldines,  of  whom  there  were  two  main  branches  : 
one  in  Leinster,  whose  chiefs  became,  first,  barons  of 
Offaly,  then  earls  of  Kildare,  and  finally  dukes  of 
Leinster:  the  other  in  Munster,  whose  heads  were 
earls  of  Desmond.  The  Butlers  settled  in  Leinster,  and 
their  chiefs  became  earls,  and  finally  dukes,  of  Ormond. 


CHAP.  XIX.]  THE  ANGLO-iKiSH  LO&DS.  l39 

The  family  of  De  Burgo  was  founded  by  William  de 
Burgo :  they  settled  chiefly  in  Connaught,  and  were 
of  two  main  branches  as  will  be  told  at  page  163. 

It  was  related  at  the  end  of  the  last  chapter  how 
Strongbow  had  been  appointed  viceroy  in  1 173  by  King 
Heniy.  No  sooner  had  he  entered  on  his  new  duties  than 
troubles  began  to  thicken  round  him.  He  found  most 
of  the  Irish  princes  in  revolt,  notwithstanding  their 
forced  submission  to  the  king ;  and  the  money  he  had 
brought  was  soon  spent,  so  that  he  had  no  pay  for  his 
soldiers.  This  naturally  made  the  men  discontented ; 
and  another  circumstance  that  greatly  increased  their  ill 
humour  was  that  a  general  whom  they  hated — Heiwey 
Mountmaurice,  Strongbow's  uncle — had  been  placed 
over  them,  instead  of  theii'  favoimte  leader  Kaymond 
le  Gros.  Eaymond  was  their  idol ;  for  he  was  a  brave 
and  dashing  officer,  and  in  all  his  expeditions,  had  given 
them  full  license  to  plunder.  Having  now  neither  pay 
nor  booty,  nor  any  prospect  of  either,  they  presented 
themselves  in  a  body  before  the  viceroy,  and  thi'eatened 
to  return  to  England  or  join  the  Irish,  unless  Raymond 
was  placed  at  their  head.  Strongbow  was  not  pleased 
at  this ;  but  he  had  no  choice,  for  the  men  seemed 
determined:  so  he  appointed  Eaymond  to  the  chief 
command :  on  which  the  new  general  led  the  men  south 
on  a  fi'eebooting  excursion,  and  ravaged  Offaly  and  the 
country  round  Lismore.  Loading  a  number  of  boats 
he  had  found  near  the  mouth  of  the  Blackwater,  with 
part  of  the  spoils,  he  sent  them  on  towards  AYaterford, 
while  he  and  his  army  set  out  in  the  same  direc- 
tion and  marched  along  near  the  coast,  driving  before 
them  4000  cows,  the  property  of  the  poor  country 
people.  The  boats  were  attacked  by  a  small  fleet  from 
Cork — half  Irish,  half  Danish — and  the  land  aimy  was 


140  A  CHlLu'tJ  IlISrOKY  Ol'  lULLAJSU.       [cHAr.  XIX. 

intercepted  by  Dcrmot  Mac  Cartliy  prince  of  Desmond ; 
but  both  attacks  were  repulsed  ;  and  Raymond  and  his 
companions  got  clear  off  and  made  their  way  Tvdth  all 
the  plunder  to  Waterford. 

Soon  after  this,  during  Raymond's  temporary  absence 

in  AVales,  Strongbow  led  his  army  towards  Limerick 

against  Donall  O'Brien  king  of  Thomond, 

A.D.  11 74:  one  of  those  who  had  submitted  to 
the  king,  but  who  had  lately  revolted. 
But  O'Brien  and  King  Roderick  intercepted  him 
at  Thurles,  defeated  him,  and  killed  1700  of  his 
men — the  best  part  of  his  anny.  Strongbow  fled  to 
Waterford,  and  full  of  grief  and  rage,  shut  himself  up 
there,  but  was  besieged  and  in  great  danger,  till  Ray- 
mond returned  and  rescued  him  ;  on  which  he  gave  his 
sister  Basilea  in  marriage  to  his  rescuer,  and  made  him 
constable  or  military  commander  of  Leinster.  Raymond 
next  made  preparation  to  avenge  on  Donall  O'Brien  the 
defeat  of  Thiuies.     He  led  his  troops  to 

A.D.  liys  Limerick;  and  in  the  face  of  enonnous 
difficulties  he  forded  the  deep  and  rapid 
river  that  flowed  between  him  and  the  stronghold  on 
the  island,  stonned  the  city,  and  gave  it  up  to  slaughter 
and  plimder.  Then  leaving  a  sufficient  gamson  under 
the  command  of  Miles  de  Cogan  he  returned  to  Dublin. 

But  now  Raymond  was  exposed  to  a  great  danger  ;  for 
his  rival  Mountmaurice  secretly  whispered  to  the  king 
that  he  aimed  at  making  himself  king  of  Ireland ;  where- 
upon Henry  ordered  that  he  should  be  sent  to  England. 
But  even  while  Raymond  was  preparing  to  obey  the 
command,  news  came  that  Donall  O'Brien  had  laid 
siege  to  Limerick;  and  when  Strongbow  ordered  out 
the  army  for  its  relief,  the  men  refused  point  blank  to 
march  under  Mountmaurice.     So  Raymond  had  to  be 


CHAP.  XIX. J  THE  ANGLO-miSH  LORDS. 


141 


replaced   in    command,    and   marching  southwards  he 
defeated  O'Brien  and  relieved  the  city. 

One  day  while  he  was  in  the  south,  a  courier  anived 

post  haste  from  Dublin  with  an  odd  message  from  his 

wife  Basilea : — "Be  it  known  to  you  that  the    great 

jaw-tooth  which  used  to  trouble  me  so  much  has  fallen 

out.    Wherefore  return  with  all  speed."     She  took  this 

enigmatical  way  of  telling  him  that  her 

A.D.  1176    brother  the  earl  was  dead;    for,  knowing 

well  the  precarious  position  of  the  colony 

in  Dublin,  and  fearing  the  Irish  might  rise  if  they  knew 

of  his  death,  she  deteiToined 
to  keep  the  matter  secret 
till  Eaymond  should  be  pre- 
sent. Eaymond  understood 
the  meaning  and  returned; 
and  the  earl  was  interred 
with  great  pomp  in  Christ- 
church  Cathedral,  archbishop 
Laurence  0' Toole  conduct- 
ing the  ceremonies. 

As  soon  as  the  king  heard 
of  vStrongbow's  death,  being 
still  jealous  of  the  brilliant 
soldier  Raymond,  he  ap- 
pointed William  de  Bui^go 
^dceroy  m  this  same  year, 
with  John  de  Courcy,  Robert 
Fitzstephen,  and  Miles  de 
Cogan  to  assist  him.  Ray- 
mond met  them  near  Wex- 
ford, and  having  given  them 
a  most  respectful  reception, 
he  delivered  up  all  his  authority  to  the  new  viceroy 


Monument  (lying  flat)  of  Strongbow  and 
his  wife  Eva  in  Christchurch  Cathedral, 
Dublin.    From  Mrs.  Halls  " Ireland." 


142  A  child's  history  of  IRELAND.        [CHAP.  XX. 

without  a  murmur.  After  this  we  hear  little  more  of 
Raymond  le  Gros  in  public  life.  He  retired  to  his 
estates  in  AYexford  where  he  resided  quietly  till  his 
death,  which  took  place  in  1182. 


CHAPTER   XX. 

JOHN      DE      COURCT. 

r  Henry  II.  (to  1189). 
A.  D.  1176-1204.  j  Richard  L  (1189-1199). 
(John  (1199). 

BuRGO,  the  new  governor,  was  from  the 
"Mp^r:^  first   disliked  by  the  colonists  :    for  he 
^  ^  wished  for  peace  and  discouraged  out- 
rage on  the  natives ;    whereas  war  was 
what  the  colonists   most   desii'ed,  as  it 
brought  them  plunder  and  sure  increase 
of  territory.     Among  all  his  officers  not 
one  was  so  discontented  as  Sir  John  de  Courcy.     He 
was  a  man  of  gigantic  size  and  strength,  brave  and 
daring ;  and  he  now  resolved  to  attempt  the  conquest 
of   Ulster,  which  the  king   had   granted  to  him  five 
years  before  (page  136).     So  gathering  roimd  him  a 
small  band  of  320  knights  and  archers,  who  with  their 
attendants  made  an  anny  of  about  1000  men,  he  set 
out  from  Dublin  for  Ulster.     Passing  northwards  with 
all  speed,   he  arrived  on  the  morning  of 
A.D.  11  yy    the  foui'th  day — the  2nd  of  Pebruaiy — at 
Downpatrick,  then  the  capital  of  Ulidia 
or  Eastern  Ulster.    As  there  were  no  walls,  the  towns- 
people knew  nothing  of  the  expedition  till  they  were 
startled  at  dawn  by  the  martial  sound  of  bugles  and 


CHAP.  XX.] 


JOHN  DE  COmiCT. 


143 


the  clattering  of  cavalry  in  the  streets.  The  adven- 
turers were  half  stai-ved  as  they  entered  the  town ; 
and  they  fell  upon  everything  they  could  lay  hands 
on :  they  ate  and  drank,  plundered,  killed,  and  de- 
stroyed, till  half  the  town  was  in  ruins. 

At  the  end  of  a  week  Mac  Dunlevy  prince  of  Ulidia 
came  with  a  large  undisciplined  army  to  attack  him. 
De  Coui'cy,  nothing  daunted,  went  out  to  meet  them, 
and  chose  a  favoui'able  position  to  withstand  the  assault. 
The  Irish  rushed  on  with  tumultuous  bravery,  but  they 
were  not  able  to  break  the  disciplined  ranks  of  the 
enemy ;  and  after  a  fui'ious  fight  they  were  repulsed 
with  oreat  loss. 


Dundrum  Castle,  near  Newcastle,  Co.  Down.    Built  by  John  de  Courcy. 
From  "Kilkenny  Archaeological  Journal,"  1883-4,  p.  158. 


Still  the  TJlstennen  continued  to  ofier  the  most  deter- 
mined resistance.  The  valiant  De  Courcy  battled 
bravely  thi'ough  all  his  difficulties,  and  three  several 
times  in  the  same  year,  1177,  he  defeated  in  battle  the 
people  of  the  suiTounding  districts.     But  as  time  went 


144  A  guild's  HISTOBT  of  IRELAND.        [CHAP.  XX. 

on  he  met  with  many  reverses,  and  lie  had  qnite  enough 
to  do  to  hohl  his  gronnd.  In  the  following  year  he  was 
defeated  near  Newry  with  a  loss  of  450  men;  and 
again  he  was  intercepted  in  one  of  his  temhle  raids, 
and  routed  hy  the  Dalaradian  chief  Cumee  OTlynn. 
He  escaped  from  this  battlefield  with  only  eleven 
companions ;  and  having  lost  their  horses,  they  fled  on 
foot  for  two  days  and  two  nights  closely  pursued,  with- 
out food  or  sleep,  till  they  reached  a  place  of  safety. 
But  in  several  other  battles  he  was  victorious.  Other 
adventui'ers  arrived  to  join  him  from  time  to  time ; 
and,  as  opportimities  offered,  he  built  many  castles  in 
vantage  points  all  over  the  province  ;  so  that  as  years 
went  by  he  strengthened  his  position  in  Ulster. 

While  these  events  were  taking  place  in  the  northern 
pro\'ince,  the  country  in  and  around  the  English  settle- 
ment in  Leinster  still  continued  to  be  very  much 
disturbed ;  and  the  king  determined  to  send  over  his 
son  prince  John,  hoping  that  his  presence  would  restore 

tranquillity.       The  prince,  then  nineteen 
A.D.  1185    years  of  age,  landed  at  Waterford  with  a 

splendid  retinue  and  a  large  body  of 
cavalry.  He  had  the  title  of  Lord  of  Ireland ;  and  his 
secretary  and  tutor  was  a  Welsh  priest  named  Gerald 
Barry,  now  better  known  as  Giraldus  Cambrensis,  or 
Gerald  of  Wales,  who  afterwards  wi'ote  in  Latin  a  de- 
scription of  Ireland  and  a  history  of  the  Anglo-Norman 
invasion.  But  Prince  John  soon  raised  the  whole 
country  in  revolt  by  his  foolish  and  vicious  conduct; 
and  he  even  tui-ned  the  old  colonists  against  him  by 
contemptuous  treatment.  The  Irish  chiefs  crowded  to 
him  in  Waterford,  both  to  pay  him  respect  and  to  ac- 
knowledge him  as  their  lord  ;  but  his  insolent  yoimg 
associates — close-shaven  dandies — ridiculed  their  dress 


CHAP.  XX.]  JOHN  DE  COTJKCT.  14r5 

and  manners,  and  insulted  them  by  plucking  their 
beards,  Tvhich  they  wore  long  according  to  the  custom 
of  the  country. 

Incensed  by  this  treatment  the  proud  Irish  nobles 
withdrew  to  their  homes,  brooding  mischief.  The 
settlements  were  attacked  at  all  points ;  and  the  most 
active  of  the  assailants  was  the  valiant  Donall  O'Brien 
of  Thomond.  A  great  number  of  the  new  strong- 
holds were  taken,  and  many  of  the  bravest  of  the 
Anglo-lS'onnan  chiefs  were  slain.  The  colonists  were 
driven  to  take  refuge  in  the  towns ;  and  almost  the 
whole  of  prince  John's  army  perished  in  the  numerous 
conflicts. 

When  the  country  had  been  for  some  time  in  this 
state  of  turmoil,  King  Hemy  came  to  hear  how  matters 
stood,  and  at  once  recalled  the  prince,  after  a  stay  of 
about  eight  months,  appointing  De  Coiu'cy  viceroy. 
The  prince,  both  before  and  after  his  return,  thi^ew  the 
whole  blame  of  the  disturbance  on  Hugh  de  Lacy. 
This  De  Lacy,  though  not  the  greatest  wamor,  was  the 
wisest  and  best  governor  of  all  the  barons  who  served 
King  Henry  in  Ireland ;  he  built  strong  castles  all 
over  Meath,  and  greatly  increased  his  power  and  influ- 
ence with  the  Irish  by  marrying  a  daughter  of  the  old 
king  Roderick  0' Conor;  so  that  he  was  recused  by  the 
prince  of  conspiring  to  make  himself  king  of  Ireland. 
But  he  never  lived  to  clear  himself.     One 

A.D.  1186  day  while  with  a  few  attendants  he 
was  inspecting  his  new  castle  at  Duitow, 
a  young  Irishman  suddenly  di'ew  forth  a  battle-axe 
from  imder  his  cloak,  and  with  one  blow  struck  off  the 
great  baron's  head :  after  which  he  made  his  escape. 
This  was  done  to  avenge  De  Lacy's  seizure  of  lands, 
and   his   desecration    of    St.    Columbkille's   venerated 


146 


A  child's  history  of  ikeland.      [cHAr.  XX. 


monastery  of  Diirrow,  which  he  had  pulled  down  to  get 
materials  for  liis  Castle. 


Trim  Castle,  originally  built  by  De  Lacy  ;  but  afterwards  rebuilt. 
From  "  Cromwell's  Tours."    Petrie. 

But  to  return  to  De  Courey.  During  his  vice- 
royalty  he  invaded  Connaught,  plundering,  burning, 
and  slaying,  after  his  usual  fashion,  much  like  the 
Danes  of  old :  but  before  he  had  advanced  far  into  the 
province,  he  was  confronted  by  the  two  kings  of 
Connaught  and  Thomond — Conor  Mainmoy  and  Donall 
O'Erien — with  their  united  armies.  Not  ventui'ing  to 
give  battle  to  this  formidable  force,  he  retreated  north- 
wards, his  only  anxiety  now  being  to  save  himself  and 
his  army  from  destruction.  Eut  when  he  had  arrived 
at  Eallysadare,  on  the  coast  of  Sligo,  the  prince  of 
Tii'connell  came  marching  down  on  him  in  front,  while 
his  pursuers  were  pressing  on  close  behind.  Setting 
fire  to  Eallysadare,  he  fled  south-east ;  but  as  he  was 
crossing  the  Curlieu  Hills  he  was  overtaken  by  Conor 


CHAP.  XX.]  JOHN  DE  COUHCY.  147 

Mainmoy  and  O'Brien,  who  fell  upon  him  and  killed  a 
great  number  of  his  men;  and  it  was  with  much 
difSculty  he  escaped  with  the  remnant  of  his  anny  into 
Leinster. 

Two  years  later  he  was  tempted  to  try  his  fortune 
a  second  time  in  Connaught,  diuing  a  contest  for  the 
thi'one  among  the  0' Conor  princes;  but  with  no  better 
result  than  before.  He  and  Hugh  de  Lacy  the  younger 
(son  of  the  great  de  Lacy)  were  both 
A.D.  1300  induced  by  one  of  the  claimants  to  come 
to  his  assistance  in  the  struggle  for  the 
thi'one  of  Connaught.  But  the  rival  0' Conor  king 
caught  the  allies  in  an  ambuscade  in  a  wood,  and  in- 
flicted on  them  a  crushing  defeat,  slaying  more  than 
half  of  the  English  army.  De  Courcy  had  a  naiTow 
escape  here,  being  felled  from  his  horse  by  a  stone. 
llecoyering,  however,  he  fled  from  the  battle-field 
northwards  till  he  reached  Eindown  castle  on  the 
western  shore  of  Lough  Eee,  where  he  proceeded  to 
convey  his  army  in  boats  across  the  lake.  He  had  been 
a  week  engaged  at  this,  when,  on  the  very  last  day, 
the  victorious  0' Conor  pounced  down  on  those  that  still 
remained  at  Eindown  and  killed  and  disowned  great 
numbers  of  them ;  while  He  Comxy  and  the  rest,  being 
safe  at  the  far  side,  made  good  their  escape. 

The  career  of  this  extraordinary  man  ended  in  ruin 
and  disgi'ace.      Hugh   de  Lacy  took   eveiy  means  to 
poison  King  John's  mind  against  him.     He  was  pro- 
claimed a  rebel  and  a  traitor ;   and  He  Lacy,  now  lord 
justice,  was  commissioned  to  arrest  him.     After  several 
imsuccessful  attempts.  He  Courcy  was  ai 
A.D.  1304:    length  betrayed  by  some  of  his  own  ser- 
vants,   who   led   De   Lacy's    men   to   his 
retreat  at  Downpatrick,  where  he  was  taken.      Some 
'2 


148  A  guild's  niSTOllY  of  IKELAND.      [chap.  XXI. 

records  relate  that  his  enemies  came  down  on  him  on 
Good  Friday,  when  he  was  barefooted  and  unaimed,  do- 
ing penance  in  the  cathedral  of  Downpatrick,  and  that 
he  snatched  up  the  nearest  weapon — a  great  wooden 
cross  standing  on  a  grave — with  which  he  dashed 
out  the  brains  of  thirteen  of  his  assailants  before  he 
was  overpowered.  After  his  arrest  histoiy  loses  sight 
of  him ;  and  we  know  nothing  certain  of  his  subsequent 
fortunes  or  how  he  ended  his  life.  Some  Anglo-Irish 
historians  indeed  tell  several  very  interesting  stories 
about  him,  but  they  are  all  fabulous. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 


rJohn  (to  1216). 
A.D.  1204-1307 <^  Henry  in.  (1216-1272). 
L Edward  I.  (1272-1307). 

Y  whatever  title  the  governor  of  Ireland  was 
known,  he  was  supposed  to  stand  in  place 
of  the  king,  and  he  usually  resided  in 
Dublin :  but  he  seldom  or  never  had  an 
army  large  enough  to  enable  him  to  en- 
force his  authority.  The  kings  of  England 
took  good  care  not  to  allow  their  gover- 
nors a  sufficient  army,  fearing  that  some 
one  of  them  might  become  strong  enough  to  make 
himself  an  independent  king  of  Ireland.  This  absence 
of  a  strong  central  government,  owing  to  the  jealousy 
of  the  kings,  was  the  root  of  most  of  the  evils  that 
afflicted  Ireland  now  and  for  ages  afterwards.  The 
great  barons,  who  were  settled  all  over  the  country, 


CHAP.  XXI.]  TURMOIL.  149 

were  well  aware  of  their  governor's  weakness,  and 
cared  very  little  for  his  authority  ;  and  they  generally 
cared  Just  as  little  for  the  authority  of  the  king,  who 
was  at  too  gi-eat  a  distance  to  reach  them,  or  even  to 
obtain  much  information  of  their  proceedings.  They 
ruled  like  independent  princes,  taxed  their  people,  made 
war  or  peace,  and  raised  armies  and  fought,  just  as  they 
pleased.  Bad  as  was  the  state  of  things  before  the 
Invasion,  it  was  much  worse  now,  for  there  were  more 
people  to  quarrel,  with  less  means  of  checking  them. 
The  native  chiefs  continued  to  wrangle  and  fight  among 
themselves,  the  same  as  before ;  the  barons  fought  with 
each  other  even  still  more  bitterly;  and  all  this  time 
the  English  were  everywhere  making  inroads  on  the 
Irish  to  win  new  lands,  while  the  Irish  defended  their 
homes  as  best  they  could.  The  king  of  England  came 
over  of  an  odd  time,  always  with  an  army ;  and  while 
he  remained  in  the  country,  there  was  quietness ;  but 
the  moment  he  re-embarked,  or  ceased  to  keep  a  direct 
watch  on  the  barons,  all  was  again  turmoil  and  blood- 
shed. What  is  related  in  this  chapter  will  give  the 
reader  a  good  idea  of  the  hard  ordeal  of  suffering  the 
unhappy  country  had  to  pass  through  during  this  thir- 
teenth and  many  subsequent  centuries. 

In  the    fii'st  years  of  the   reign  of  King  John  the 
country  was  all  in  confusion,  of  which  he  was  kept  well 
informed  by  his  agents.    Seeing  no  prospect  of  improve- 
ment so  long  as  things  were  permitted  to  go  on  in  their 
usual  course,  he  came  to  the  resolution  to  visit  Ireland 
and  reduce  the  turbulent  barons  and  chiefs  to  submis- 
sion.    He  landed  at  Crook,  near  Water- 
A.D.  1210    ford,  with  a  formidable  army;  and  fi'om 
the  very  day  of  his  arrival  the  fighting 
ceased,  the  most  troublesome  of  the  barons  fled,  and 


150  A  child's  history  of  IRELAND.      [CU.VP.  XXI. 

the  country  became  tranquil.  As  he  had  no  fight- 
ing  to  do,  he  employed  himself  more  usefully  in 
making  arrangements  for  the  better  government  of  the 
30untiy.  Those  parts  of  Ireland  which  were  under 
English  jurisdiction,  he  parcelled  out  into  twelve 
counties  or  shires,  and  this  was  the  beginning  of  the 
subdivision  into  counties,  such  as  we  now  have  them.* 
He  directed  that  in  these  twelve  counties  English  law 
should  be  administered,  and  for  this  purpose  he  had 
courts  of  justice  erected,  and  appointed  magistrates  and 
other  officers  to  hold  sessions  and  decide  cases.  But  it 
must  be  borne  in  mind  that  all  this  was  for  the  settlers 
only,  not  for  the  natives,  who  were  then  and  for  long 
afterwards  outside  the  pale  of  the  law.  So  far  as  they 
went,  King  John's  arrangements  were  sensible  and 
useful.  He  returned  to  England  in  August,  after  a 
I:  tay  of  about  two  months  ;  and  during  the  remainder  of 
liis  reign,  Ireland  was  moderately  quiet. 

The  century  that  elapsed  from  the  death  of  John  and 
the  accession  of  Henry  III.  (a.d.  1216)  to  the  invasion 
of  Edward  Bruce  was  a  period  of  strife  and  bloodshed, 
a  period  of  woe  and  misery  for  the  common  people  :  it 
seemed  as  if  the  whole  island  was  abandoned  to  anarchy. 


*  The  division  of  Ireland  into  shires  or  counties  is  of  Anglo- 
Norman  and  English  origin.  The  counties  generally  represent 
tlie  older  native  territories  and  sub-kingdoms.  The  twelve 
formed  by  King  John  are  Dublin,  Kildare,  Meath,  Uriel  (or 
Louih),  Carlow,  Kilkenny,  Wexford,  Waterford,  Cork,  Kerry, 
Limerick,  and  Tipperary.  Queen's  County  and  King's  County 
were  formed  in  the  time  of  Queen  Mary,  and  were  so  called  in 
honour  of  the  Queen  and  her  husband  PhiHp — after  whom  also 
A/ere  named  the  two  capitals  of  the  counties — Maryborough  and 
j^hilipstown.  Sir  Henry  Sydney,  about  1565,  formed  the  county 
Longford  from  the  ancient  district  of  Annaly.  He  also  divided 
C'onnaught  into  six  counties^ — GalM-ay,  Sligo,  Mayo,  Eoscom- 


CHAP.  XXI.  J  TURMOIL.  151 

What  is  sometimes  called  tlie  ''  War  of  Meath,"  for  it 
was  in  fact  a  civil  war  on  a  small  scale — a  destructive 
feud  between  William  Marshal,  the  owner  of  vast 
estates  in  Leinster,  and  Hugh  de  Lacy  the  younger — 
began  in  1224,  and  continued  unchecked  till  the  whole 
of  Meath  was  wasted.  Scarcely  was  this  strife  ended 
when  another — the  "War  of  Kildare" — broke  out  in 
the  following  manner.  After  William  Marshal's  death, 
his  brother  Richard,  a  handsome,  valiant,  noble-minded 
knight,  inherited  his  titles  and  estates.  He  was  in 
England  at  the  time  of  his  brother's  death ;  and  having 
incurred  the  anger  of  King  Hemy  III.,  fled  to  Ireland. 
Eut  Geoffrey  Marisco,  Maurice  Fitzgerald,  and  Hugh 
de  Lacy  conspired  to  destroy  him,  hoping  to  share  his 
vast  estates.  Marisco  pretended  friendship,  and  arranged 
a  meeting  on  the  CuiTagh  of  Kildare  (in  1234)  to  discuss 
certain  matters  in  dispute.  Here  yoimg  Marshal  was 
treacherously  attacked  by  de  Lacy  and  the  others,  and 
being  betrayed  and  abandoned  by  Marisco,  he  was, 
though  a  renowned  swordsman,  at  length  wounded, 
overpowered,  and  taken  prisoner.  He  soon  after  died 
of  his  wounds;  but  his  assassins  gained  nothing  by 
their  villainy     Marisco  was  banished  by  the  indignant 


mon,  Leitrim,  and  Clare  (but  Clare  was  subsequently  annexed  to 
Munster,  to  which  it  had  in  earlier  times  belonged).  Sir  John 
Perrott,  about  1584,  formed  the  following  seven  counties  of 
Ulster: — Armagh,  Monaghan,  Tyrone,  Coleraine  (now  the 
county  Derry),  Donegal,  Fermanagh,  and  Cavan :  the  other 
two  Ulster  counties,  Antrim  and  Down,  had  been  constituted 
some  time  before.  This  makes  thirty,  so  far.  In  the  time  of 
Henry  VIII.  Meath  was  divided  into  two  :  Meath  proper,  and 
Westmeath.  At  first  the  county  Dubhn  included  "Wicklow  ; 
but  in  1605,  under  Sir  Arthur  Chichester,  "Wicklow  was  formed 
into  a  separate  county.  This  makes  the  present  numbei 
thirty-two. 


152  A  child's  HISTORY  OF  IBELAND.      [cHAP.  XXI. 

king,  to  whom  the  whole  base  plot  was  soon  after- 
wards revealed ;  and  his  sou,  who  had  espoused  his 
cause,  having  been  captiu'ed,  was  executed. 

In  these  Leinster  counties  there  was  at  this  time  a 
mixed  population  of  English  settlers  and  native  Irish, 
most  of  them  quiet  people,  who  wished  for  nothing  more 
than  to  be  pennitted  to  till  their  farms,  herd  theii'  cattle, 
and  live  with  their  families  in  peace.  Eut  these  ever- 
lasting feuds  of  the  barons  stopped  all  industry,  and 
brought  death  and  desolation  everywhere. 

While  this  warfare  was  going  on  in  Leinster,  Con- 
naught  was  in  a  state  of  strife  which  lasted  for  many 
years ;  and  the  struggles  among  the  several  claimants 
of  the  0' Conor  family  for  the  throne  of  Connaught 
went  on  unceasingly ;  battles,  skirmishes,  and  raids 
without  number.  The  English,  under  William  Marshal, 
De  Bui'go,  or  others,  were  mixed  up  in  most  of  these 
contests,  now  siding  with  one  of  the  parties,  now  with 
another ;  but  always  keeping  an  eye  to  their  own  inte- 
rests. And  thus  the  havoc  and  ruin  went  on  unchecked. 
The  Irish  annalists  who  have  recorded  the  history  of 
those  evil  times,  mention  one  pathetic  incident  which 
will  give  some  idea  of  the  miseries  suffered  by  the 
people — who  were  here,  it  should  be  observed,  all 
Irish.  During  one  terrible  raid  by  Marshal  and  one  of 
the  0' Conors,  a  frightened  crowd  of  peasants — men, 
women,  and  children — fleeing  fi'om  the  pui'suing  army, 
perished  by  scores  on  the  way.  In  their  headlong  flight 
they  attempted  to  cross  a  wide  and  deep  river,  midway 
between  Ballina  and  Foxford,  in  Mayo,  where  great 
numbers  were  di'owned ;  and  next  day  the  baskets  set 
at  the  weirs  to  catch  fish  were  found  full  of  the  bodies 
of  little  children  that  had  been  swept  down  by  the 
stream.     This  state  of  horror  lasted  in  Connaught  for 


CHAP.  XXI. J  TUEMOIL.  153 

many  years.  Meantime  the  wi'etclied  hnnted  people 
were  imable  io  attend  to  their  tillage  :  famine  and 
pestilence  followed ;  and  the  inhabitants  of  whole  towns 
and  districts  were  swept  away. 

At  length  one  of  the  0' Conors— Felim,  nephew  of 
the  old  Ard-ri  Roderick — established  himself  in  1249, 
by  sheer  force  of  energy  and  bravery,  on  th  e  throne  of 
Connaught,  in  spite  of  all  enemies,  both  English  and 


Tomb  of  Felim  O'Conor,  King  of  Connaught,  in  Roscommon  Abbey.* 
From  "  Kilkenny  Archaeological  Journal." 

Irish,  and  reigned  without  interruption  till  his  death 
in  1265. 

The  condition  of  Leinster  and  Connaught  has  been 
sketched:  the  state  of  things  in  Ulster  and  Munster 
was  almost  as  bad. 

Maurice  Fitzgerald,  who  had  been  twice  lord  justice 


*  A  full  page  engraving  of  the  whole  tomb,  with  the  eight 
galloglasses  full  length  (the  rubbish  having  recently  been  cleared 
away),  may  be  seen  in  "The  O'Conors  of  Connaught,"  by  the 
Right  Hon.  The  O'Conor  Don.  Two  of  these  fine  figures  are 
given  at  the  end  of  this  chapter. 


154  A  guild's  HISTORY  OF  LRELAND.      LCHAP.  XXI. 

— he  who  had  conspired  with  the  others  against  Richard 

Marshal — marched  with  his  army  north- 

A.D.  125J    wards    through    Connaught,    resolved   to 

bring   Ulster   completely    under   English 

rule.      But  he  was  intercepted  by  Godfrey  O'Donnell, 

chief  of  Tirconnell,  at  Credran,  beside  Rosses,  near  Sligo, 

where  a  fui-ious  battle  was  fought.     The  two  leaders, 

Fitzgerald  and  O'Donnell,  met  in  single  combat  and 

wounded  each  other  severely;  the  English  were  routed  ; 

and  Fitzgerald  retired  to  the  Franciscan  monastery  of 

Youghal,  in  whicfi  he  died  the  same  year,  probably  of 

his  wounds. 

As  for  O'Donnell,  he  had  himself  conveyed  to  an 
island  in  Lough  Beagh  in  Donegal,  where  he  lay  in  bed 
for  a  whole  year  sinking  daily  under  his  wounds ;  and 
all  this  time  the  Tirconnellians  had  no  chief  to  lead 
them.  There  had  been,  for  some  time  before,  much 
dissension  between  this  O'Donnell  and  Brian  O'^N'eill, 
prince  of  Tyrone ;  and  now  O'Neill,  taking  advantage 
of  his  rival's  misfortune,  invaded  Tirccnnell.  O'Donnell, 
still  lying  ill,  ordered  a  muster  of  his  army,  and  as  he 
was  quite  helpless  and  unable  to  lead  them,  expecting 
death  daily,  he  had  himself  borne  on  a  bier  at  their  head 
to  meet  the  enemy.  And  while  the  bier  was  held  aloft 
in  full  view  of  the  Kinel  Connell,  the  armies  attacked 
each  other  near  the  river  Swilly,  and  the  Tyrone  men 
were  routed.  Immediately  afterwards  the  heroic  chief 
died :  and  the  same  bier  from  which  he  had  witnessed  his 
last  victory,  was  made  use  of  to  bear  him  to  his  grave. 
Some  of  the  Irish  chiefs  now  attempted  to  unite 
against  the  common  enemy,  choosing  Brien  0']S^eill  for 
leader  (a.d.  1260) :  but  they  were  defeated  by  the 
English  in  a  bloody  battle  at  Downpatrick ;  and  O'l^eill 
and  a  large  number  of  chiefs  were  slain. 


CHAP.  XXI.] 


TURMOIL. 


155 


In  the  south,  the  Mac  Carthys  of  Desmond,  seeing 
their  ancient  principality  continually  encroached  upon 
by  the  Geraldines,  became  exasperated,  and  attacked 
and  defeated  them  in  1261  at  Callan,  near  Kenmare; 
after  which  they  demolished  numbers  of  the  English 
castles.  But  they  soon  quarrelled  among  themselves, 
and  the  Geraldines  gi-adually  recovered  all  they  had  lost. 

While  this  universal  strife  was  raging  in  Ireland, 
Henry  III.  died,  and  was  succeeded  by  Edward  I.  in 
1272.  Dui'ing  Edward's  reign,  as  will  be  related 
fui'ther  on  (p.*  166),  the  Irish  chiefs  petitioned  to  be 
placed  under  English  law ;  but  though  this  great  king 
was  himself  willing  to  gi'ant  the  petition,  the  Anglo- 
Irish  lords  persuaded  him  to  reject  it. 


Two  of  the  eight  Galloglasses  on  King  Felim  O'Conor's  Tomb  in  Roscommon  Abbey 
(see  p.  153).     From  "  Kilkenny  Archaeological  Journal,'  1870-1,  p.  252. 


Ornament  on  leather  case  of  Book  of  Armagh.     From  Petrie's  "  Round  Towers. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 


EDWAED  BRUCE. 
A.D.  1315-1318 —Edward  II. 

ATTEES  were,  as  we  have  seen,  in  a  very 
distm^bed  state  during  the  preceding  cen- 
tury; but  we  might  almost  say  that  it 
was  peace  itself  compared  with  the  three 
and  a  half  years  of  Bruce' s  expedition  to  Ireland. 

The  Irish  people,  especially  those  of  the  north,  viewed 
with  great  interest  and  sympathy  the  struggles  of  their 
kindred   in    Scotland   for   independence ;    and   Robert 
Bruce's  glorious  victory  over  Edward  II.  at  Bannock- 
burn  (in  1314)  filled  them  with  joy  and  hope.     Soon 
after  the  battle  the  native  chiefs  of  Ulster,  headed  by 
Donall  O'Neill,  prince  of  Tyrone,  with  the  Anglo-Irish 
De  Lacys  and  Bissetts,  who  then  owned  Glenarm  and 
Rathlin,  despatched  messengers  praying  Bruce  to  send 
his  brother  Edward  to  be  king  over  them.     He  eagerly 
accepted  the  proposal ;    and  on  the  25th 
A.D.  1315    of  May,  Edward  Bruce,  accompanied  by 
many  of  the  Scottish  nobles,   landed  at 
an   ai-my   of    6000  of  the  best   soldiers 
He  was  immediately  joined  by  Donall 
O'Neill,  and  by  numbers  of  the  northern  Irish;   and 
the  combined  forces  overran  a  great  part  of  Ulster, 


Lame   with 
of  Scotland. 


CHAP.  XXII.]  EDWARD  BRUCE.  157 

destroying  everything  belonging  to  the  English  that 
came  in  their  way,  and  defeating  their  armies  in 
several  battles.  Moving  southwards,  they  stonned  and 
burned  Dundalk  and  Ardee ;  and  at  this  latter  place 
they  set  fire  to  the  church  of  the  Carmelite  fiiary,  in 
which  a  number  of  people  had  taken  refuge,  and  biu'ned 
them  all  to  death.  From  fii'st  to  last  the  campaign  was 
carried  on  with  great  cruelty,  and  with  reckless  waste 
of  life  and  property.  All  food  except  what  was  needed 
for  the  use  of  the  army  was  destroyed,  though  there 
was  a  famine,  and  the  people  were  starving  all  over  the 
country. 

The  two  leading  Anglo-Irish  noblemen  at  this  time 
were  Eichard  De  Burgo  the  Eed  Earl  of  TJlster,  and 
Sir  Edmund  Butler  the  lord  justice.  The  Red  Earl, 
who  was  lord  of  the  greatest  part  of  the  two  provinces 
of  Ulster  and  Connaught,  and  was  by  far  the  most 
powerful  nobleman  in  Ireland — much  more  high  and 
mighty  than  even  the  lord  justice — raised  a  large  army, 
chiefly  in  Connaught,  and  set  out  in  quest  of  the 
invaders.  His  march  north  through  the  Irish  districts 
was  perhaps  more  savagely  destructive  than  that  of 
Bruce,  if  indeed  that  were  possible ;  and  his  reason  for 
thus  destroying  the  property  of  the  Irish  people  as  he 
marched  along,  was  that  he  believed  they  were  all  in 
favour  of  Bruce,  which  was  not  the  case. 

Eelim  0' Conor  the  young  king  of  Connaught  had 
joined  De  Burgo  and  accompanied  the  English  army. 
But  he  was  recalled  to  Connaught  to  suppress  a  rebel- 
lion of  some  of  his  subjects.  This  weakened  De  Burgo, 
who  was  now  attacked  by  Bruce  at  Connor  near  Bally- 
mena  and  wholly  defeated;  and  he  fled  back  to 
Connaught  crestfallen,  with  the  broken  remnants  of  his 
forces.     A  body  of  the  defeated  English  fled  eastwai'ds 


158 


A  child's  HISTOKY  <)!''  IRELAND.     |_CliAr.  XXII. 


to  Carrickferfrus  and  took  possession  of  the  castle, 
which  they  gaUantly  defended  for  months  against  the 
Scots.  Soon  after  the  battle  at  Connor,  Bruce  had 
himself  proclaimed  king  of  Ireland  and  formally 
crowned.  Marching  next  into  Meath — still  in  1315 — 
he  routed  an  army  of  15,000  men  under  Roger  Mor- 
timer at  Kells ;  and  at  the  opening  of  the  new  year 
(1316)  he  defeated  the  lord  justice,  Sir  Edmund  Butler, 
at  Ardscull  near  Athy. 


Carrickfergfus  Castle  in  i£ 


From  Wri.cfht's  "  Ireland  Illustrated." 


The  preceding  harvest  had  been  a  bad  one,  and 
scarcity  and  want  prevailed  all  over  the  country. 
Nevertheless  the  Scottish  army,  wherever  they  went, 
continued  to  ravage  and  destroy  all  they  could  not 
consume  or  bring  away,  multiplying  tenfold  the  miseries 
of  the  people,  both  English  and  Irish. 

Eelim  0' Conor,  having  rushed  in  blood  the  revolt 
in  Connaught,  now  changed  sides  and  declared  for 
Bruce.     Intending  to  expel  all  the  English  from  the 


CHAP.  XXn.J  EDWAED  BRUCE.  159 

province,  lie  marclied  to  Athemy  with  a  large  army  ; 
but  was  there  defeated  and  slain,  in  1316,  in  a  great 
battle  by  William  De  Burgo  and  Eichard  Bermingham. 
This  was  by  far  the  most  decisiye  and  fatal  defeat  ever 
inflicted  on  the  Irish  since  the  invaders  first  set  foot  on 
Irish  soil.  Eleven  thousand  of  0' Conor's  army  fell, 
and  among  them  nearly  all  the  native  nobility  of  Con- 
naught  ;  so  that  of  all  the  0' Conor  family  there  sui'vived 
only  one  chief,  Pelim's  brother,  able  to  bear  arms. 

The  band  of  English  who  had  taken  possession  of 
CaiTickfergus  castle  held  out  most  heroically,  and  now 
Bruce  himself  came  to  conduct  the  siege  in  person. 
Reduced  to  starvation,  the  brave  garrison  at  last  sur- 
rendered on  condition  that  their  lives  should  be  spared. 

King  Eobert  had  come  over  to  aid  his  brother ;  and 
early  in  the  spring  of  1317  they  both  set  out  for  Dublin 
with  an  army  of  20,000,  destroying  everything  in  their 
march.  They  encamped  at  Castleknock ;  but  the  citizens 
of  Dublin  took  most  determined  measures  for  defence, 
bui'ning  all  outside  the  walls,  both  houses  and  churches, 
to  deprive  the  Scots  of  shelter ;  so  that  the  Bruces  did 
not  think  it  prudent  to  enter  on  a  siege;  and  they 
resumed  their  destructive  march  till  they  reached 
Limerick.  But  as  they  found  this  city  also  well  pre- 
pared for  defence,  and  as  there  was  still  gi'eat  scarcity 
of  provisions,  they  returned  northwards  after  a  short 
stay.  They  had  to  traverse  the  very  districts  they  had 
wasted  a  short  time  before ;  and  in  this  most  miserable 
march,  vast  numbers  of  them  perished  of  cold,  hunger, 
and  disease — scoui'ged  by  the  famine  they  had  them- 
selves created. 

After  this,  Kmg  Robert,  believing  it  hopeless  to 
attempt  the  complete  conquest  of  the  country,  returned 
to  Scotland  ;  but  Edward  remained,  detennined  to  fight 


160  A  child's  history  of  IRELAND.     [cHAP.  XXIT. 

it  out  to  the  end.  The  two  armies  rested  inactive,  and 
there  was  a  lull  for  a  time,  probably  on  account  of  tbe 
terrible  dearth  of  food.  But  now  came  an  abundant 
harvest,  and  both  sides  prepared  for  action.  Bruce 
turned  south  for  another  conquering  progress,  but  was 
met  at  Faughart  two  miles  north  of  Dundalk  by  an 
army  much  more  numerous  than  his  own,  under  Sir 
John  Bermingham.  He  was  strongly  advised  not  to 
fight  till  more  men,  who  were  on  their  way  fi'om  Scot- 
land, should  arrive ;  but  he  was  rash  and  headstrong, 
and  despised  his  opponents,  declaring  he  would  fight  if 
they   were   four  times    more    numerous. 

A.D.  1318  The  battle  fought  here  on  the  14th 
October  terminated  the  war.  The  issue 
was  decided  chiefly  by  Sir  John  Maupas,  an  Anglo- 
Irish  knight,  who  made  a  dash  at  Bruce  and  slew  him 
in  the  midst  of  the  Scots.  Maupas  was  instantly  cut 
down ;  and  after  the  battle  his  body  was  found  pierced 
all  over,  lying  on  that  of  Bruce.  The  invading  army  was 
defeated  with  great  slaughter ;  and  the  main  body  of  the 
survivors,  including  the  De  Lacys,  escaped  to  Scotland. 
Benningham  had  the  body  of  Bruce  cut  in  pieces  to  be 
hung  up  in  the  chief  towns  in  the  colony,  and  brought 
the  head  salted  in  a  box  to  king  Edward  II.,  who 
immediately  created  him  earl  of  Louth  and  gave  him 
the  manor  of  Ardee. 

And  so  ended  the  celebrated  expedition  of  Edward 
Bruce.  Though  it  was  a  failure,  it  shook  the  Anglo- 
Irish  government  to  its  foundation  and  weakened  it  for 
centui'ies.  TJJster  was  almost  cleared  of  colonists  ;  the 
native  chiefs  ;  i,nd  clans  resumed  possession ;  and  there 
were  similar  movements  in  other  parts  of  Ireland,  though 
not  to  the  same  extent.  There  had  been  such  general, 
needless,  and  almost  insane  destruction  of  property,  that 


CHAP.  XXin.]      THE  STATUTE  OF  KILKENNY.  161 

vast  numbers  of  the  people  of  all  classes,  settlers  and 
natiyes,  chiefs  and  peasants,  lost  everything  and  sank 
into  hopeless  poverty.  The  whole  country  was  thi'own 
into  a  state  of  utter  disorder  from  which  it  did  not 
recover  till  many  generations  had  passed  away.  And 
to  add  to  the  misery,  there  were  ^visitations  of  famine 
and  pestilence — plagues  of  various  strange  kinds — which 
continued  at  intervals  during  the  whole  of  this  century. 
The  native  Irish  historians  of  the  time  regarded  the 
expedition  of  Bruce  with  great  disfavoiu';  for  they 
looked  upon  it  as  answerable  for  a  large  part  of  the 
evils  and  miseries  that  afflicted  their  unfortunate 
coimtry 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

THE     STATUTE     OP     KILKENNY. 

A  D      1^18-1^77  i  ^^^ard  II.  (to  1327). 
A.  L>.    IdlH-li)//  I  Edward  III.  (1327). 

|t  the  end  of  the  last  chapter  it  was  stated  that 
the  Anglo-Irish  government  was  greatly 
shaken  by  the  Bruce  invasion :  it  now  grew 
weaker  year  by  year ;  and  the  English,  far 
fi'om  invading  new  territories,  had  moie 
than  they  could  do  to  defend  those  they  had  already 
acquired.  Eor  the  Irish,  taking  advantage  of  their 
dissensions  and  helplessness,  attacked  them  everywhere 
and  recovered  a  great  part  of  their  lands. 

Moreover,  about  this  time  the  English  all  over  the 
country  were  fast  becoming  absorbed  into  the  native 
population.     The  Irish,  like  the   Celtic  tribes  every- 

M 


162  A  child's  HISTOUT  op  THELAND.    [chap.  XXIII. 

where,  have  always  had  a  sort  of  fascinating  power 
over  people  of  other  races  settling  among  them,  a 
power  to  make  them  in  all  respects  like  themselves  : 
and  in  fact  all  the  settlers  before  the  Ulster  Plantation, 
and  most  of  those  after  it,  have  fallen  under  this  spell. 
Eut  about  the  time  we  are  now  dealing  with,  there 
were  two  powerful  artificial  influences  to  help  this 
natui-al  process.  First :  the  colonists,  seeing  the  Irish 
prevailing  everywhere,  joined  them  for  mere  protec- 
tion, intermarrying  with  them  and  adopting  their  lan- 
guage, dress,  and  customs.  Second  :  the  government 
had  all  along  made  a  most  mischievous  distinction 
between  Is^ew  English  and  Old  English— English  by 
birth  and  English  by  blood.  They  favoui^ed  English- 
men who  came  over  to  better  their  fortunes — men  who 
never  did  anything  for  Ireland — and  gave  them  most 
of  the  situations  of  trust,  putting  them  over  the  heads 
of  the  Old  English,  those  who  had  borne  the  brunt  of 
the  struggle.  This  so  incensed  the  old  colonists  that  a 
large  proportion  of  them — Geraldines,  Butlers,  De 
Bui'gos,  and  others — tui^ned  against  the  government 
and  joined  the  Irish.  These  "  degenerate  English," 
as  they  were  caUed,  were  regarded  by  the  loyal  Eng- 
lish with  as  much  aversion  as  the  Irish,  and  returned 
hate  for  hate  quite  as  cordially  ;  and  later  on,  as  we 
shall  see,  some  of  the  most  dangerous  leaders  of  re- 
bellion were  Anglo-Irish  noblemen.  So  completely 
did  they  become  fused  with  the  native  population,  that 
an  English  writer  complained  that  they  had  become 
"  more  Irish  than  the  Irish  themselves." 

The  whole  country  was  now  feeling  the  consequences 
of  the  Bruce  invasion;  and  there  were  murderous 
broils  everywhere  among  the  English  themselves,  with 
little   or  no    check.      At   Bragganstown   near   Ardee, 


CHAP.  XXIIT.]      THE  STATUTE  OF  KILKENNY.  163 

Sir  John  Bermingham,  the  victor  of  Faugliart,  who  had 
brought  on  himself  the  jealousy  and  hate  of  his  neigh- 
bours by  that  victory,  was  led  into  a  trap,  in  1329,  and 
treacherously  slain,  together  with  his  brothers,  nephews, 
and  retainers,  to  the  number  of  160,  by  the  Gernons 
and  Savages.  About  the  same  time  a  similar  outrage 
was  perpetrated  in  Munster ;  when  Lord  Philip  Hodnet 
and  140  of  the  Anglo-Irish  were  massacred  by  their 
brethi-en,  the  Barrys,  the  Eoches,  and  others.  A  little 
later  on  (in  1333)  De  Bm-go  the  Brown  Earl  of  Ulster, 
then  only  twenty-one  years  of  age,  was  murdered  on 
his  way  to  Carrickfergus  church  on  a  Sunday  morning, 
by  Richard  de  Mandeville,  his  own  uncle  by  marriage, 
a  crime  that  caused  great  and  widespread  indignation. 
The  Anglo-Irish  people  of  the  place,  by  whom  the 
young  lord  was  much  liked,  rose  up  in  a  passionate 
bui'st  of  vengeance,  and  seizing  on  all  whom  they  sus- 
pected of  having  a  hand  in  the  deed,  killed  300  of 
them. 

The  mui'der  of  this  young  earl  lost  a  great  part  of 
Ireland  to  the  government,  and  helped  to  hasten  the 
incorporation  of  the  English  with  the  Irish.  He  left 
one  child,  a  daughter,  who  according  to  English  law 
was  heir  to  her  father's  vast  possessions  in  Ulster  and 
Connaught,  about  one-foui"th  of  the  whole  Anglo-Irish 
territory.  The  two  most  powerful  of  the  Connaught 
De  Bui'gos,  knowing  that  whoever  this  girl  might 
many,  when  she  grew  up,  would  come  over  their  heads, 
seized  the  estates,  declared  themselves  independent  of 
England,  and  adopted  the  Irish  di'ess,  language,  and  law. 
They  took  also  Irish  names,  one  of  them  calling  him- 
seK  Mac  William  Oughter  (Upper)  as  being  lord  of 
upper,  or  south,  Connaught ;  who  was  ancestor  of  the 
earls  of  Clanrickard :  the  other,  Mac  William  Eighter, 
m2 


1 64  A  CITTLD'S  HTSTORT  of  IRELAND.     [CHAP.  XXIII. 

i.e.  of  Lower  or  jS'orth  Connaught,  from  whom  descend 
the  earls  of  Mayo.  And  their  example  was  followed 
by  many  other  Anglo-Irish  families,  especially  in  the 
west  and  south.  Almost  the  only  part  of  the  settle- 
ment that  remained  English,  and  loyal  to  England,  was 
the  district  round  Dublin,  which  was  afterwards  called 
the  Pale.  The  poor  settlers  of  this  district  were  all 
this  time  in  a  most  miserable  condition.  They  were 
scourged  by  the  Black  Death  and  other  terrible  plagues, 
and  oppressed  and  robbed  by  their  own  riders.  And 
as  the  government  was  not  able  to  afford  them  protec- 
tion, they  had  to  pay  "  Black  rents"  to  some  of  the 
Irish  chiefs  round  the  borders,  to  protect  them  from 
the  fierce  attacks  of  the  natives.  These  Elack  rents 
too  were  often  paid  by  the  Irish  government  as  well 
as  by  private  individuals. 

The  uprising  of  the  Irish   became  so  general  and 
alarming   that   the   viceroy  called  in   the  aid  of    the 

most  powerful  nobleman  in  the  country, 
A.D.  13 30   Maurice  Fitzgerald,  who  was  at  the  same 

time  created  fii^st  Earl  of  Desmond.  This 
only  made  matters  worse ;  for  Eitzgerald,  after  some 
successful  expeditions,  quartered  his  army,  to  the  number 
of  10,000,  on  the  colonists,  that  they  might  pay  them- 
selves by  exacting  coyne  and  livery  (p.  43) :  the  first  time 
the  English  adopted  this  odious  impost,  which  after- 
wards became  so  frequent  among  them.  The  unfortunate 
colonists,  exposed  to  all  sorts  of  exactions  and  hard- 
ships, depressed  by  poverty  and  scourged  by  pestil- 
ence, quitted  the  doomed  country  in  crowds — everyone 
fled  who  had  the  means — and  the  settlement  seemed 
threatened  with  speedy  extinction.  The  native  Irish 
were  not  less  wi-etched  than  the  English;  for  the 
Black  Death  visited  them  too,  and  the  continual  wars 


CHAl'.  XXin.]      THE  STATUTE  OF  KILfiENNf.  165 

brouglit  quite  as  mucli  misery  on  them  as  on  the  people 
of  the  Pale. 

While  the  Pale  was  daily  becoming  more  and  more 
enfeebled,  the  great  barons,  in  their  strong  castles  all 
oyer  the  country,  caring  nothing  for  the  English  in- 
terest, but  very  much  for  their  own  authority  and 
grandeiu',  became  more  dangerously  powerful  year  by 
year ;  so  that  King  Edward  III.  feared  them,  and  came 
to  the  determination  to  break  down  their  power.  He 
made  three  attempts  to  do  so,  by  sending  over  three 
govemors,  at  different  times  fi'om  1331  to  1344,  with 
instructions  to  carry  out  his  design ;  but  all  three 
failed,  and  in  the  end  the  nobles  remained  in  much  the 
same  position  as  before,  till  the  time  of  Henry  YIII. 

"Wherever  a  colony  of  English  were  settled,  the  two 
people — English  and  Irish — after  some  time,  when 
they  came  to  know  each  other,  generally  lived  on  good 
terms  and  often  intermarried — Englishmen  generally 
taking  Irish  wives — and  the  English  learned  to  speak 
the  Irish  language,  instead  of  the  Irish  learning  Eng- 
lish. But  there  were  some  evil  influences  fi'om  the 
outside  to  prevent  this  kindly  intercoui^se— tending  to 
make  the  people  hostile  rather  than  friendly  towards 
each  other.     One  of  these  was  the  state  of  the  law. 

After  the  English  settlement  in  1172  there  were  two 
distinct  codes  of  law  in  force  in  Ireland — the  English 
and  the  Brehon.  The  English  law  was  for  the  colo- 
nists ;  it  did  not  apply  to  the  Irish :  and  an  Irishman 
that  was  in  any  way  injiu'ed  by  an  Englishman  had  no 
redi'ess.  He  could  not  seek  the  protection  of  English 
law,  which  gave  the  judges  and  magistrates  no  power 
to  try  the  case ;  and  if  he  had  recoui'se  to  the  Brehon 
law,  the  Englishman  need  not  submit  to  it.  But  on 
the  other  hand,  an  Irishman  who  injui'ed  an  English- 


166  A  CinLD*S  HISTORY  OF  lEELAND.     [cnAP.  XXrlt. 

man  in  any  manner  was  at  once  tried  by  English  law 
and  punished,  if  the  matter  was  proved  against  him. 
So  that  all  those  of  the  native  race  who  lived  among  or 
near  the  colonists  were  in  a  position  of  great  hardship, 
humiliation,  and  danger.  This  state  of  things  was  not 
indeed  brought  about  with  any  intention  to  give  the 
English  license  to  injure  their  Irish  neighbours.  The 
colonists  were  simply  placed  under  English  law  without 
any  thought  of  the  Irish  one  way  or  the  other.  But 
the  fact  that  it  was  unintentional  in  no  way  lessened 
the  danger ;  and  many  instances  are  on  record  of  Eng- 
lishmen inflicting  great  injury  on  Irishmen — some- 
times even  killing  them — knowing  well  that  there  was 
no  danger  of  punishment.  Accordingly,  about  this  time, 
the  Irish  several  times  petitioned  to  be  placed  under 
English  law  ;  but  though  both  Edward  I.  and  Edward 
III.  were  willing  to  grant  this  petition,  the  selfish 
Anglo-Irish  barons  persuaded  them  that  it  would  do 
great  injuiy  to  the  country,  and  so  prevented  it;  for 
it  was  their  interest  that  the  Irish  should  be  regarded 
as  enemies,  and  that  the  country  should  be  in  a  per- 
petual state  of  disturbance. 

But  there  were  also  direct  attempts  made  to  keep 
the  English  and  Irish  people  asunder,  especially  by  a 
law  known  as  the  *'  Statute  of  Kilkenny,"  which  was 
brought  about  in  this  way.  King  Edward  III.,  when 
he  was  made  aware  of  the  critical  state  of  the  colony, 
as  described  on  p.  164,  resolved  to  send  over  his  third 
son  Lionel,  afterwards  duke  of  Clarence,  as  lord  lieu- 
tenant. This  young  prince  had  married  Elizabeth,  the 
only  child  of  the  Brown  Earl  of  Ulster,  who  had  been 
murdered,  and  in  her  right  had  become  earl  of  Ulster 
and  lord  of  Connaught.  But  he  was  a  most  unsuitable 
person  to  have  the  government  of  the  country  in  his 


CHAP.  XXni.]      THE  STATUTE  OF  KILKENNY.  1G7 

hands,  for  lie  had  an  insane  hatred  of  the  Irish,  whether 
of  native  or  English  blood.  With  a  force  of  1500. 
trained  soldiers  he  came  to  Ireland  in  1361,  but  in 
his  expeditions  against  the  natives  he  was  very  un- 
successful :  and  twice  afterwards  he  came  as  lord 
lieutenant,  in  1364  and  1367.  After  this  experience 
he  became  convinced  that  it  was  impossible  ever  to 
subdue  the  Irish  and  bring  them  under  English  rule ; 
and  he  seemed  to  think  that  all  the  evils  of  the  country 
arose  from  the  intercourse  of  the  colonists  with  them. 
This   state    of    things   he   attempted    to 

A.T).  136?    remedy  by  an  act  which  he  caused  to  bo 
passed  by  a  parliament  held  in  Kilkenny, 
and  which  he  imagined  would  be  the  means  of  saving 
the  colony  fi^om  destruction. 

*'  The  Statute  of  Kilkenny"  was  intended  to  apply 
only  to  the  English,  and  was  fi'amed  entii'ely  in  their  in- 
terests. Its  chief  aim  was  to  withdi'aw  them  fi'om  all 
contact  with  the  *'  Irish  enemies,"  as  the  natives  are 
designated  all  through  the  act;  to  separate  the  two 
races  for  evermore. 

According  to  this  law,  intermarriage,  fosterage,  gossi- 
pred,  traffic,  and  close  relations  of  any  kind  with  the 
Irish  were  forbidden  as  high  treason : — punishment, 
death. 

If  any  man  took  a  name  after  the  Irish  fashion,  used 
the  Irish  language  or  dress,  rode  a  horse  without  a 
saddle,  or  adopted  any  other  Irish  custom,  all  his  lands 
and  houses  were  forfeited,  and  he  himself  was  put  into 
jail  till  he  could  find  security  that  he  would  comply 
with  the  law.  The  Irish  li\dng  among  the  English 
were  forbidden  to  use  the  Irish  language  under  the 
same  penalty :  that  is,  they  were  commanded  to  speak 
English,  a  language  they  did  not  know.     To  use  the 


168  A  child's  nrsToRY  of  ieeland.   [chap.  xxin. 

Erehon  law — as  many  of  tlie  English,  both  high  and 
low,  were  now  doing — or  to  exact  coyne  and  liveiy 
was  treason. 

1^0  Englishman  was  to  make  war  on  the  Irish  with- 
out the  special  permission  of  the  government,  who 
would  carry  on  all  such  wars,  "so  that,"  as  the  Act 
expresses  it,  ''the  Irish  enemies  shall  not  be  admitted 
to  peace  until  they  be  finally  destroyed  or  shall  make 
restitution  fully  of  the  costs  and  charges  of  that  war." 

1^0  native  Irish  clergyman  was  to  be  appointed  to 
any  position  in  the  chui'ch  within  the  English  district, 
and  no  Irishman  was  to  be  received  into  any  English 
religious  house  in  Ireland. 

It  was  forbidden  to  receive  or  entertain  Lish  bards, 
pipers,  story-tellers,  or  mowers,  because,  as  the  Act 
said,  these  and  such  like  often  came  as  spies  on  the 
English. 

But  this  new  law,  designed  to  effect  so  much,  was 
found  to  be  impracticable,  and  became  after  a  little 
while  a  dead  letter.  It  would  require  a  gi^eat  army  to 
enable  the  governor  to  carry  it  out:  and  he  had  no 
such  army.  Coyne  and  livery  continued  to  be  exacted 
from  the  colonists  by  the  three  great  earls,  Kildare, 
Desmond,  and  Ormond ;  and  the  Irish  and  English 
went  on  intermarrying,  gossiping,  fosteiing,  di-essing, 
speaking  Irish,  riding  horse  without  saddle,  and  quarrel- 
ling on  their  own  account,  just  the  same  as  before. 

The  reign  of  Edward  III.  was  a  glorious  one  for 
England  abroad,  but  was  disastrous  to  the  English 
dominion  in  Ireland.  Great  battles  were  fought  and 
won  for  the  Erench  possessions  :  while  Ireland,  which 
was  more  important  than  all  the  Erench  possessions  put 
together,  was  neglected.  At  the  very  time  of  the  battle 
of  Cressy,  the  Irish  settlement  had  been  almost  wiped 


CHAr.  XXIV.]     ART  MAC  MTJRROGH  KAVANAGH.  IGO 

out  of  existence :  the  Englisli  power  did  not  extend 
beyond  the  Pale,  which  now  included  only  four 
counties  round  Dublin  ;  for  the  three  gi^eat  earls  of 
Kildare,  Desmond,  and  Ormond  acted  as  independent 
princes,  and  made  no  acknowledgment  of  the  authority 
of  the  English  king.  If  one-half  of  the  care  and 
energy  expended  uselessly  in  France  had  been  directed 
to  Ireland,  the  country  could  have  been  easily  pacified 
and  compacted  into  one  great  empire  with  England. 


CHAPTER  XXIY. 

ART     MAC    MTJRROGH     KAVANAGH. 

(Richard  II.  (1377  to  1399). 
A.D.  1377-1417    Henry  IV.  (1399  to  1413). 
(Henry  V.(i4i3) 

HE  man  that  gave  most  trouble  to  the 
English  during  the  reigns  of  Richard  II. 
and  Henry  lY.  was  Art  Mac  MuiTOgh 
Kavanagh,  the  renowned  king  of  Leinster. 
He  was  elected  king  in  1375,  when  he 
was  only  eighteen  years  of  age.  Soon  afterwards  he 
mamed  the  daughter  of  Maurice  Eitzgerald  fourth  earl 
of  Kildare ;  whereupon  the  English  authorities  seized 
the  lady's  vast  estates,  inasmuch  as  she  had  violated 
the  Statute  of  Kilkenny  by  mariying  a  mere  Irishman 
(p.  167).  In  addition  to  this,  his  black  rent— eighty 
marks  a  year — was  for  some  reason  stopped,  a  little 
time  after  the  accession  of  Richard  II.  Exasperated 
by  these  proceedings,  he  devastated  and 'burned  many 
districts  in  Leinster,  till  the  Dublin  council  were  at  last 
forced  to  pay  him  his  black  rent.     This  rent  continued 


170  A  CniLD^S  HISTORY  OF  IIIKI.AXD.      [ciIAP.  XXIV. 

to  bo  paid  to  liis  descendants  by  the  Irisli  government 
till  the  time  of  Henry  YIII. 

Meantime  Ireland  had  been  going  from  bad  to  worse ; 
and  at  last  King  Eichard  II.  resolved  to  come  hither 
himself  with  an  overwhelming  force,  hoping  thereby  to 
overawe  the  whole  country  into  submission  and  quiet- 
ness.     He   made    great   preparations   for 

A.D.  1394    this  expedition ;   and  on  the  2nd  October, 

attended  by  many  of  the  English  nobles, 

he  landed  at  Waterford  with  an  army  of  34,000  men, 

the  largest  force  ever  yet  brought  to  the  shores  of 

Ireland. 

As  soon  as  Mac  Murrogh  heard  of  this,  far  from 
showing  any  signs  of  fear,  he  swept  down  on  Xew  Eoss, 
then  a  flomishing  English  settlement  strongly  walled, 
bui'ned  the  town,  and  brought  away  a  vast  quantity  of 
booty.  And  when  the  king  and  his  army  marched 
north  from  Waterford  to  Dublin,  he  harassed  them 
on  the  way  after  his  usual  skilful  fashion,  attacking 
them  from  the  woods  and  bogs  and  cutting  off  great 
numbers. 

Eut  the  Irish  chiefs  saw  that  they  could  not  resist 
the  king's  great  army ;  and  accordingly  most  of  them — 
about  75  altogether — including  Mac  MuiTOgh  the  most 
dreaded  of  all — came  forward  and  made  submission. 
They  were  afterwards  invited  to  Dublin,  where  they 
were  feasted  in  great  state  for  several  days  by  the  king, 
who  knighted  the  four  provincial  kings,  O'Neill  of 
Ulster,  0' Conor  of  Connaught,  Mac  MuiTogh  of  Leinster, 
and  O'Erien  of  Thomond. 

King  Eichard,  though  shallow  and  weak-minded,  had 
sense  enough  to  perceive  the  chief  causes  of  the  evils 
that  afflicted  Ireland.  In  a  letter  to  the.  duke  of  York, 
the  English  regent,  he  describes  the  Irish  people  as  of 


eaAt.  XXIY.]     AET  MAC  MTJKROGH  KATAXAGS.  171 

three  classes: — Irish  savages  or  enemies,  who  were  out- 
side the  law  (p.  165) ;  Irish  rebels,  i.e.  colonists  who  had 
once  obeyed  the  law  but  were  now  in  rebellion;  and 
English  subjects :  and  he  says  the  rebels  were  driven 
to  revolt  by  injustice  and  ill-usage. 

But  this  magnificent  expedition,  which  cost  an 
immense  sum  of  money,  produced  no  useful  result  what- 
ever. It  did  not  increase  the  king's  revenue  or  the 
number  of  loyal  subjects ;  and  it  did  not  enlarge  the 
English  teiTitory  by  a  single  acre.  As  for  the  submis- 
sion and  reconciliation  of  the  Irish  chiefs,  it  was  all 
pui^e  sham.  They  did  not  look  upon  King  Richard  as 
their  lawful  sovereign ;  and  as  the  promises  they  had 
made  had  been  extorted  by  force,  they  did  not  consider 
themselves  bound  to  keep  them.  After  a  stay  of  nine 
months  the  king  was  obliged  to  return  to  England, 
leaving  as  his  deputy  his  cousin  young  Eoger  Mortimer 
earl  of  March,  who,  as  Eichard  had  no  children,  was 
heir  to  the  throne  of  England.  Scarcely  had  he  left 
sight  of  land  when  the  chiefs  one  and  all  renounced 
their  allegiance,  and  the  fighting  went  on  again ;  till 
at  last,  in  a  battle  fought  at  Kells  in  Kilkenny  in 
1397,  against  the  Leinster  clans,  amongst  them  a  large 
contingent  of  Mac  MuiTogh's  kern,  the  English  suffered 
a  great  overthi'ow,  and  Mortimer  was  slain. 

When  news  of  this  calamity  reached  the  king,  he 
was  greatly  enraged,  and  foolishly  resolved  on  a  second 
expedition  to  Ireland,  in  order  as  he  said,  to  avenge 
the  death  of  his  cousin,  and  especially  to  chastise  Mac 

Murrogh.    Another  army  was  got  together 
A.D.  1399    quite  as  numerous  as  the  former  one.     In 

the  middle  of  May  the  king  landed  with 
his  army  at  AVaterford,  and  after  a  short  stay  there 
lie  marched  to  Kilkenny  on  his  way  to  Dublin.     But 


172 


A  child's  history  of  IRELAND.       [cHAP.  XXlY. 


instead  of  continuing  his  march  on  the  open  level 
country,  he  turned  to  the  right  towards  the  Wicklow 
highlands  to  attack  Mac  MuiTOgh  :  and  here  his  trouhles 
began. 

Muking  their  way  slowly  and  toilsomely  through  the 
hills,  the  English  at  length  descried  the  Leinster  army 
under  Mac  MuiTogh,  about  3000  in  number,  high  up  on 


Richard  II.  knig^hting  young  Henry  of  Lancaster.  From  the  Contempo- 
rary (illuminated)  MS.  1399,  by  the  Frenchman  spoken  of  in  the  text  (next 
page)  Reproduced  in  Gilbert's  "  Fac-Sim.  Nat.  MSS.,"  from  which  this 
illustration  was  photographed. 


a  mountain  side,  coolly  looking  down  on  them,  with 
impassable  woods  between.  Having  waited  for  some 
time,  vainly  hoping  to  be  attacked,  the  king  had  the 
adjacent  villages  and  houses  burned  down  :  and  while 
they  were  blazing  he  knighted  Henry  of  Lancaster,  then 
a  lad  of  thirteen,  afterwards  the  great  King  Henry  Y. 


CHAP.  XXIT.]     ART  MAC  MFEEOGH  KATAXAGH.  1 73 

of  England.  Getting  together  2500  of  the  inhabitants, 
whose  houses  he  had  destroyed,  he  caused  them  to  cut 
a  way  for  his  army  thi^ough  the  woods,  and  then  pushed 
on,  determined  to  overwhelm  the  little  body  of  moun- 
taineers. But  he  was  soon  beset  with  difficulties  of  all 
kinds,  bogs,  fallen  trees,  hidden  gullies,  and  quagmires 
in  which  the  soldiers  sank  up  to  their  middle.  And  all 
this  time  flying  parties  of  the  Irish  continually  darted 
out  fi'om  the  woods  on  every  side,  flinging  their  lances 
with  terrible  force  and  precision  which  no  armour  could 
withstand,  and  cutting  off  foraging  parties  and  stragglers. 
All  this  is  described  in  verse  by  a  French  gentleman 
who  accompanied  the  expedition ;  and  he  goes  on  to 
say  that  after  each  attack  the  Irish  disappeared  into 
the  woods,  ''  so  nimble  and  swift  of  foot  that  like  unto 
stags  they  run  over  mountains  and  valleys,  whereby 
we  received  great  annoyance  and  damage." 

In  this  dire  strait  the  army  made  their  way  across 
hill,  moor,  and  valley,  never  able  to  overtake  the  main 
body  of  Mac  Murrogh's  mountaineers,  who  continually 
retired  before  them.  The  weather  was  bad  :  no  pro- 
visions could  be  procui^ed,  for  there  was  nothing  but 
bog  and  moor  all  round  ;  and  besides  those  that  fell  by 
the  Irish,  great  numbers  of  the  men — and  of  the  horses 
too — were  perishing  from  hunger,  rain,  and  storm.  At 
the  end  of  eleven  days  of  toil  and  suffering,  they  came 
in  sight  of  the  sea,  somewhere  on  the  south  part  of  the 
AYicklow  coast.  Here  they  found  three  ships  which 
had  been  sent  from  Dublin  laden  with  provisions,  and 
the  starving  multitude  rushed  down  to  the  shore  and 
into  the  water,  struggling  and  fighting  for  every  morsel 
of  food.  The  timely  arrival  of  these  ships  saved  the 
army  from  destruction,  l^ext  day  they  resumed  march, 
moving  now  along  the  coast  towards  Dublin;    while 


174 


A  CniLP'S  niSTOEY  OF  IHELAND.      [CHAP.  XXIV. 


flying  parties   of   tlio  Irish   hung   on   thcii   rear   and 
hai-assed   their    retreat,   never  giving  them  an  hour's 


rest 


Ships  relieving;  army.  From  the  Contemporary  MS.  mentioned  in  last  illus- 
tration. Reproduced  in  Gilbert's  "Fac-Sim.  Nat.  MSS.,"  from  which  this 
illustration  was  photographed. 


But  now  Mac  Murrogh  sent  word  that  he  wished  to 
come  to  terms.  ''  This  news,"  says  the  Frenchman, 
"  brought  much  joy  unto  the  English  camp,  every  man 
being  weary  of  toil  and  desii'ous  of  rest " :  and  the 
young  earl  of  Gloucester  was  despatched  by  the  king  to 
confer  with  him. 

"When  the  party  of  English  had  come  to  the  place  of 
conference,  Mac  MuiTogh  was  seen  descending  a  moun- 
tain-side between  two  woods,  accompanied  by  a  multi- 
tude of  followers.  He  rode,  without  saddle,  a  noble 
horse  that  had  cost  him  four  hundi'ed  cows,  and  he 


CHAP.  XXIY.J     ART  MAC  MURROGH  KAVANAGH.  175 

galloped  like  the  wind  down  the  face  of  the  hill :  '<I 
never  in  all  my  life" — the  French  gentleman  goes 
on  to  say — "saw  hare,  or  deer,  or  any  other  animal 
go  with  such  speed  as  his  horse." 
He  brandished  a  long  spear,  which, 


Meeting  of  Mac  Murrog-h  Kavanagh  and  Gloucester.  From  the  Contem- 
porary MS.  mentioned  in  the  illustration  at  p.  172.  Reproduced  in  Gilbert's 
"Fac-Sim.  Nat.  MSS.,"  from  which  this  illustration  was  photographed. 

when  he  had  arrived  near  the  meeting  place,  he  flung 
from  him  with  great  dexten'ty.  Then  his  followers 
fell  back,  and  he  met  the  earl  alone  near  a  small 
brook ;  and  those  that  saw  him  remarked  that  he  was 
tall  of  stature,  well  knit,  strong,  and  active,  with  a 
fierce  and  stern  countenance. 

But  the  parley  ended  in  nothing,  for  Gloucester  and 
Mac  Murrogh  could  not  agree  to  terms ;  at  which  King 
liichard  was  greatly  disappointed  and  incensed  ;  and  he 
vowed  he  would  never  leave  Ireland  till  he  had  taken 
Mac  MuiTogh  alive  or  dead.    Accordingly  on  his  arrival 


176  A  child's  history  of  niELAND.    [chap.  XXIT. 

in  Dublin  he  made  arrangements  to  have  Mac  Murrogh 

hunted  down.     Eut  before  they  could  be 
A.D.  1399    carried  out  he  was  recalled  to  England  by 

alarming  news;  and  when  he  arrived  there 
he  was  made  prisoner,  and  a  new  king,  Henry  IV., 
was  placed  on  the  throne.  By  these  two  Irish  expe- 
ditions Richard  II.  lost  his  crown. 

After  the  king's  departure,  Mac  Murrogh's  raids  be- 
came so  intolerable  that  the  government  agreed  to  com- 
pensate him  for  his  wife's  lands.  There  was  now  a 
short  period  of  quietness ;  but  he  renewed  the  war  in 
1405,  plundered  and  burned  Carlow  and  Castledermot — 
two  English  settlements — and  again  overran  the  county 
"Wexford.     But  now  came  a  turn  of  ill  fortune.     The 

deputy.  Sir  Stephen  Scroope,  utterly  de- 
A.D.  140?    feated  him  near  Callan  in  Kilkenny,  and 

immediately  afterwards  siu'prised  0' Carroll 
lord  of  Ely,  and  killed  O'Carroll  himself  and  800 
of  his  followers.  Altogether  3000  of  the  Irish  fell 
in  these  two  conflicts  —  the  gi^eatest  reverse  ever 
sustained  by  Mac  MuiTOgh.  This  disaster  kept  him 
quiet  for  a  time.  But  in  1413  he  inflicted  a  severe 
defeat  on  the  men  of  the  English  colony  of  Wexford. 
Thi'ee  years  afterwards  these  same  Wexford  men  com- 
bined, with  the  detennination  to  avenge  all  the  injuries 
he  had  inflicted  on  them.  But  he  met  them  on  their 
own  plains,  defeated  them  with  a  loss  of  three  or  four 
himdred  in  killed  and  prisoners,  and  so  thoroughly 
fidghtened  them,  that  they  were  glad  to  escape  fui'ther 
consequences  by  making  peace  and  giving  hostages  for 
futui'e  good  behavioui'. 

This  was  the  old  hero's  last  exploit.  He  died  in 
!N'ew  Ross  a  week  after  the  Christmas  of  1417,  in  the 
sixtieth  year  of  his  age,  after  a  reign  of  forty-two  years 


CHAP.  XXT.]    lEELAND  DrRIKG  THE  WAES  OP  THE  ROSES.     177 

over  Leinster.  O'Doran  his  chief  brehon,  who  had 
been  spending  the  Christmas  with  him,  died  on  the 
same  day;  and  there  are  good  gi'oimds  for  suspecting 
that  both  were  poisoned  by  a  woman  who  had  been 
instigated  by  some  of  Mac  MiuTogh  Kavanagh's  enemies. 
He  was  the  most  heroic  and  persevering  defender  of  his 
country,  from  Brian  Boru  to  Hugh  O'Xeill ;  and  he 
maintained  his  independence  for  neai'ly  half  a  century 
just  beside  the  Pale,  in  spite  of  every  effort  to  reduce 
him  to  submission. 


CHAPTER   XXV. 

HCV   IRELAND    FAHED    DURING   THE    WAES  OF   THE    ROSES. 

(  Henry  V.  (1413  to  1422). 
A.D.   1413-1485    Henry  VI.  (1422  to  1461). 
(Edward  IV.  (1461). 

^/^^ITTLE  or  no  change  in  Irish   affairs  marked 
the  short  reign  of  Hemy  Y.,  who  ascended 
the  throne  in   1413,  and  who  was  so  en- 
grossed with  France  that  he  gave  hardly 
any  attention  to  Ireland.    There  was  strife 
everywhere,  and  the  native  chiefs  continued 
their  fierce  inroads  on  the  Pale.    Matters  at  last  looked 
so  serious  that  the  king  sent  over  an  able  and  active 
military  man  as  lord  lieutenant,  Sir  John  Talbot  Lord 
Purnival,  subsequently  earl  of  Shrewsbury,  who  became 
greatly  distinguished  in  the  French  wars. 
A.D.  1414:    He   made  .  a  vigorous   circuit   round   the 
Pale,  and  reduced  O'Moore,  Mac  Mahon, 
O'Hanlon,  and  O'Xeill.     But  this  brought  the  Pales- 
men   more  evil   than  good  ;    for  the  relief  was  only 
temporary ;   and   when   the   brilbant   exploit  was  all 
IT 


178  A  cmLD\s  niSTOEY  OF  Ireland,    [cnir.  xxt. 

over,  he  subjected  them,  in  viohition  of  the  Statute  of 
Kilkenny,  to  coyne  and  livery,  having  no  other  way 
of  paying  his  soldiers,  exactly  as  the  earl  of  Desmond 
had  done  eighty-five  years  before  (p.  164).  JN'o  sooner 
had  he  left  than  the  Irish  resumed  their  attacks,  and 
for  years  incessantly  harried  and  worried  the  miserable 
Palesmen,  except  indeed  when  kept  quiet  in  some  small 
degree  by  the  payment  of  Black  rent. 

The  accession  of  Henry  YI.  (in  a.d.  1422)  made 
no  im2)rovement  in  the  country,  which  continued  to 
be  everywhere  torn  by  strife :  and  the  people  of  the 
Pale  fared  neither  better  nor  worse  than  those  of  the 
rest  of  the  country.  But  what  greatly  added  to  their 
misfortunes  at  this  time  was  a  long  and  bitter  feud 
between  two  of  the  leading  Anglo-Irish  families,  the 
Butlers  and  the  Talbots,  which  was  carried  on  with 
such  violence  that  it  put  a  stop  to  almost  all  govern- 
ment business  in  the  Pale,  and  brought  ruin  on  thou- 
sands of  the  poor  people.  Por  more  than  twenty  years 
this  fierce  dissension  continued  ;  while  within  the  Pale 
all  was  confusion  and  corruption.  The  leading  English 
officials  forced  shopkeepers  and  others  to  supply  goods, 
but  hardly  ever  paid  their  debts ;  while  at  the  same 
time  they  robbed  the  king  of  his  lawful  revenues  and 
enriched  themselves.  Dui'ing  this  time  the  soldiers 
were  under  little  or  no  restraint  and  did  just  as  they 
pleased.  In  harvest  time  they  were  in  the  habit  of 
going,  with  thew  ivives^  children,  servants,  and  friends, 
sometimes  to  the  number  of  a  hundred,  to  the  farmers' 
houses  in  the  country  round  Dublin — all  inhabited  by 
the  people  of  the  English  colony — eating  and  di'inking, 
and  paying  for  nothing.  They  robbed  and  sometimes 
killed  the  tenants  and  husbandmen ;  and  their  horses 
were  tm'ned  out  to  graze  in  the  meadows  and  in  the 


CHAP.  XXV.]    IHELAND  DtJElKG  tSE  WAHS  OF  THE  ROSES.    1 79 

ripe  corn,  ruining  all  the  harvest.  Some  little  relief 
came  when  Richard  Plantagenet  duke  of  York,  a  dis- 
tinguished man,  a  prince  of  the  royal  blood  and  heir  to 
the  throne  of  England,  was  appointed  lord  lieutenant. 
He  won  the  affections  of  the  Irish  both  of  native  and 
English  descent,  by  treating  them  with  fairness  and 
consideration  ;  a  thing  they  had  been  little  accustomed 
to.  The  native  chiefs  sent  him,  unasked,  as  many 
beeves  as  he  needed  for  his  gi'eat  household :  a  record 
creditable  to  both  sides,  for  it  showed  that  he  was  a 
kind  and  just  man,  and  that  they  could  be  grateful  and 
generous  when  they  were  fairly  treated.  He  was  ap- 
pointed for  ten  years ;  but  he  had  not  been  in  Ireland 
for  more  than  one  year  when  Jack  Cade's  rebellion 
broke  out;  on  which  he  went  to  England  in  1451  to 
look  after  his  own  interests,  and  dui'ing  his  absence 
Ireland  was  governed  by  deputies  appointed  by  himself. 
Dui'ing  this  heartless  and  miserable  tumult  it  is 
pleasant  to  be  able  to  record  that  the  native  people 
still  retained  all  their  kindly  hospitality  and  their  ancient 
love  of  learning.  This  is  shown  by  what  we  read  of 
Margaret,  the  wife  of  0' Conor  of  Offaly,  a  lady  celebrated 
for  her  benevolence.  Twice  in  one  year  (about  1450) 
she  invited  to  a  great  banquet  the  learned  men  of  Ire- 
land and  Scotland :  poets,  musicians,  brehons,  historians, 
&c.  The  first  meeting  was  held  at  Killeigh,  near 
Tullamore,  when  2700  guests  were  present;  and  the 
second  at  Rathangan  in  Kildare,  to  which  were  invited 
all  who  had  been  absent  from  the  first.  Lady  Margaret 
herself  was  present,  and  she  sat  like  a  queen  high  up 
in  the  gallery  of  the  chiu'ch  in  view  of  the  assembly, 
clad  in  robes  of  gold,  surrounded  by  her  fi'iends  and  by 
the  clergy  and  brehons.  All  were  feasted  in  royal 
style,  seated  according  to  rank :  after  which  each 
n2 


180  A  child's  history  of  lllELAND.      [cHAr.  XXV. 

learned  man  was  presented  with  a  valuable  gift :  and 
the  names  of  all  present  were  entered  on  a  roll  by  Mac 
Egan  chief  brehon  to  the  lady's  husband. 

For  the  past  century  and  a  half  the  English  kings 
had  been  so  taken  up  with  wars  in  France,  Scotland, 
and  AVales,  that  they  had  little  leisure  to  attend  to 
Ireland.  Accordingly  we  have  seen  the  Irish  encroach- 
ing, the  Pale  growing  smaller,  and  the  people  of  the 
settlement  more    oppressed   and   more  miserable  year 

by   year.      13ut   now   began   in   England 
A.u.  1454:    the    tremendous    struggle    between    the 

houses  of  York  and  Lancaster,  commonly 
known  as  the  Wars  of  the  Roses,  which  lasted  for 
about  thirty  years,  and  dui'ing  which  the  colony 
fared  still  worse.  The  Geraldines  sided  with  the 
house  of  York,  and  the  Butlers  with  the  house  of 
Lancaster ;  and  they  went  to  England,  with  many 
others  of  the  Anglo-Irish,  to  take  part  in  the  battles  ; 
going  and  retui'ning  as  occasion  requii'ed,  and  generally 
leading  the  settlements  in  Ireland  almost  wholly  un- 
protected during  their  absence.  Then  the  Irish  rose 
lip  everywhere,  overran  the  lands  of  the  settlers,  and 
took  back  whole  districts.  The  Pale  became  smaller  than 
ever,  till  it  included  only  the  county  Louth  and  about 
half  of  Dublin,  Heath,  and  Kildare.  At  one  time  not 
more  than  200  men  could  be  got  together  to  defend  it. 

AYhen  the  Yorkists  prevailed,  and  Edward  IV.  was 
proclaimed  king  (1461),  the  Geraldines,  both  of  Des- 
mond and  Kildare,  were  in  high  favour,  while  the 
Putlers  were  in  disgrace.  These  two  factions  en- 
acted a  sort  of  miniatui'e  of  the  Wars  of  the  Poses  in 
Ireland.  Among  many  other  encounters,  they  fought 
a  battle  at  Pilltovm  in  Ejlkenny  in  1462,  where  the 
Butlers  were  defeated,   and  400  or  500  of  their  men 


CFAP.  XXV.]    IRELAND  DUEING  THE  WAES  OF  THE  ROSES.    181 

killed.  As  showing  how  completely  these  Anglo-Irish 
families  had  adopted  the  Irish  language  and  customs,  it 
is  worthy  of  mention  that  the  ransom  of  Mac  Richard 
Butler,  who  had  heen  taken  prisoner  in  the  hattle,  was 
two  Irish  manuscripts,  the  Psalter  of  Cashel  and  the 
Book  of  Carrick.  A  fragment  of  the  Psalter  of  Cashel 
is  still  preserved  in  the  Bodleian  Library  in  Oxford, 
and  in  one  of  its  pages  is  written  a  record  of  this  trans- 
action. 

Thomas  the  eighth  earl  of  Desmond — the  Great  Earl 
as  he  was  called — was  appointed  lord  deputy,  in  1463, 
under  his  godson  the  yoimg  duke  of  Clarence,  the  king's 
brother,  who  though  appointed  lord  lieutenant,  never 
came  to  Ireland.  Desmond  was  well  received  by  the  Irish 
of  both  races.  He  loved  learning  as  well  as  any  of  the 
native  princes,  and  he  showed  it  by  founding  a  college 


/ 


The  Colledge,"  Youghal,  as  drawn  by  Dinely,  time  of  Charles  II. 
From  "  Kilkenny  Archaeological  Journal,"  1862-3,  p.  323 


in  Youghal,  which  was  richly  endowed  by  him  and  by 
the  succeeding  earls,  and  which  long  continued  to 
flomish.  Some  of  the  events  that  took  place  about  this 
period  give  us  curious  glimpses  of  those  wild  and  lawless 
times.     In  1466  Earl  Desmond  was  defeated  in  open 


182 


A  child's  niSTORY  OF  TTIELAND.      [CTTAP.  XXV, 


fio-lit  "by  his  own  brothor-in-law,  0' Conor  of  Offaly, 
who  took  him  prisoner  and  confined  him  in  Carbury 
castle  in  Kildare.  Eut  when  the  people  of  Dublin, 
with  whom  he  was  a  great  favourite,  heard  of  his  im- 
prisonment, a  number  of  active  young  fellows  banded 
together,  and  marching  all  the  way  to  Carbury,  about 
thirty  miles  off,  they  rescued  the  earl  and  brought  him 


Carbury  Castle,  Co.  Kildare.    From  a  photograph. 

back  in  triumph  to  Dublin.  This  is  a  bright  part  of 
the  pictui'e ;  but  there  is  a  sad  and  dark  side  also,  where 
we  see  how  the  ruin  of  the  gi'eat  earl  was  brought 
about.  It  seems  he  had  imprudently  let  fall  some 
words  disrespectful  to  the  queen,  who,  when  the  matter 
was  reported  to  her,  had  John  Tiptoft — "  the  butcher," 
as  he  was  called,  fi'om  his  cruelty — sent  to  Ireland  to 
replace  him  in  the  deputyship.  Acting  on  the  secret 
instructions  of  the  queen,  this  new  deputy  caused  the 
two  earls  of  Kildare  and  Desmond  to  be  arrested  foi 


CHAP.  XXy.]    IKELAND  DURING  THE  WAKS  OF  THE  ROSES.    183 

exacting  coyne  and  livery,  and  for  making  alliance  with 
the  Irish,  contrary  to  the  Statute  of  Kilkenny  (pp.  167, 
168).  Desmond  was  at  once  executed  (1467),  while 
Kildare  was  pardoned  ;  and  "  the  butcher"  retiu^ned  to 
England,  where  he  was  himself  executed  soon  after. 

To  the  people  of  the  Pale,  the  Irish  were  a  constant 
source  of  terror ;  and  when  they  failed  to  crush  them 
in  open  fight  they  sometimes  attempted  to  do  so  by 
act  of  parliament.  One  of  these  acts,  passed  by  the 
Irish  parliament  in  1465,  ordained  that  every  Irish- 
man dwelling  in  the  Pale  was  to  dress  and  shave  like 
the  English,  and  to  take  an  English  surname : — from 
some  town  as  Trim,  Sutton,  Cork;  or  of  a  colour  as 
Black,  Brown ;  or  of  some  calling,  as  Smith,  Carpenter, 
etc.,  on  pain  of  forfeiture  of  his  goods.  Then  began  the 
custom  of  changing  Irish  sui'names  to  English  forms, 
which  afterwards  became  very  general.  Another  and 
more  mischievous  measm-e  forbade  ships  from  fishing  in 
the  seas  of  Irish  countries  (that  is,  those  parts  of  Ireland 
still  belonging  to  the  native  chiefs)  lecause  the  dues  ivent 
to  mal:e  the  Irish  people  prosperous  and  strong.  But  the 
worst  enactment  of  all  was  one  providing  that  it  was 
lawful  to  decapitate  thieves  found  robbing  "or  going 
or  coming  anywhere  "  unless  they  had  an  Englishman 
in  their  company ;  and  whoever  did  so,  on  bringing  the 
head  to  the  mayor  of  the  nearest  town,  was  licensed  to 
levy  a  good  sum  off  the  barony.  This  put  it  in  the 
power  of  any  evil-minded  person  to  kill  the  first  Irish- 
man he  met,  pretending  he  was  a  thief,  and  to  raise 
money  on  his  head.  The  legislators  indeed  had  no 
such  evil  intention :  for  the  act  was  merely  a  desperate 
attempt  to  keep  down  marauders  who  swarmed  at  this 
time  everywhere  through  the  Pale :  but  all  the  same  it 
was  a  very  wrong  and  dangerous  law. 


i 


Sculpture  on  a  Capital :  Priest's  House,  Glendalough  :  Beranger,  1779. 
From  Petrie's  "  Round  Towers." 


CHAPTER   XXYI. 


POTNINGS    LAW, 


A.D.  1485-1494.-Henry  VII. 


X  the  accession,  in  1485,  of  Henry  YII.,  who 
belonged  to    the   Lancastrians,    that    great 
party   finally   triumphed.     The  Tudors,   of 
whom  he  was  the  first,  were  a  strong-minded 
and  astute  race  of  sovereigns.      They  paid 
more   attention   to   Irish  affairs  than  their 
predecessors  had  done  ;  and  they  ultimately 
succeeded    in   recovering   all   that   had   been   lost  ly 
neglect   and   mismanagement,    and    in    restoring    the 
English  power  in  Ireland.     At  this  time  all  the  chief 
state  offices  in  Ireland  were  held  by  the  Geraldines; 
but  as  the  new  king  felt  that  he  could  not  govern  the 
country  without  their  aid,  he  made  no  changes,  though 
he  knew  well  they  were  all  devoted  Yorkists.     He  had 
a  very  inseciu-e  hold  on  his  own  throne,  and  he  thought 
that  the  less  he  disturbed  matters  in  Ireland  the  better. 
Accordingly  the  gi'eat  earl  of  Kildare,  who  had  been 
lord  deputy  for  several  years,  with  a  short  break,  was 
still  kept  on. 

But  the  Irish  retained  their  affection  for  the  house  of 
Y'ork ;  and  when  the  young  impostor  Lambert  Simne] 
came  to  Ireland  and  gave  out  that  he  was  the  Yorkist 


CHAP.  XXYI.]  POYNINGS'  LAW.  185 

prince  Edward  carl  of  Warwick,  lie  was  received  with 
open  arms,  not  only  by  the  deputy,  but  by  almost  all 
the  Anglo-Irish  : — nobles,  clergy,  and  people.  But  the 
city  of  Waterford  rejected  him  and  remained  steadfast 
in  its  loyalty  ;  whence  it  got  the  name  of  Urhs  Intacta^ 
the  ''untarnished  city."  After  a  little  time  an  army 
of  2000  Germans  came  to  Ireland  to  support  the 
impostor;  and  in  1487  he  was  actually  crowned  as 
Edward  YI.,  by  the  bishop  of  Meath,  in  Christchurch 
Cathedral,  Dublin,  in  presence  of  the  deputy  Xildare, 
who  was  the  chief  instigator  and  manager  of  the  whole 
affair,  the  archbishop  of  Dublin,  and  a  gi'eat  concourse 
of  Anglo-Irish  nobles,    ecclesiastics,    and 

A.D.  I'lS'?  officers,  all  of  whom  renounced  their 
allegiance  to  Henry  YII.  In  order  that 
he  might  be  seen  well  by  the  people,  he  was  borne 
through  the  streets  on  the  shoulders  of  a  gigantic 
Anglo-Irishman  named  Darcy,  amidst  the  loud  huzzas 
of  the  Dublin  mob :  an  incident  that  gives  us  a  view 
of  the  rough  and  ready  methods  of  those  times. 

But  this  foolish  business  came  to  a  sudden  tenni- 
nation  when  Simnel  was  defeated  and  taken  prisoner  in 
England.  Then  Kildare  and  the  others  humbly  sent  to 
ask  pardon  of  the  king ;  who,  cbeading  their  power  if 
they  were  driven  to  rebellion,  took  no  severer  steps 
than  to  send  over  Sir  Richard  Edgecomb  to  exact  new 
oaths  of  allegiance ;  retaining  Kildare  as  deputy.  In 
the  following  year  the  king  invited  them  to  a  banquet 
at  Greenwich ;  and  they  must  have  felt  greatly  crest- 
fallen and  humiliated  when  they  saw  that  one  of  the 
waiters  who  attended  them  at  table  was  none  other  than 
their  idolised  prince  Lambert  Simnel.  How  heartily  the 
king  must  have  enjoyed  it :  for  he  loved  a  good  joke. 

A  little  later  on,  reports    of   new  plots  in  Ireland 


186  A  child's  niSTORY  OF  IRELAND.    [cHAr.  XXVI. 

reached  the  king's  ears ;  whereupon  in  1492  he  removed 
Kildarc  from  the  office  of  deputy.  These  reports  vrere 
not  without  foundation,  for  now  a  second  chnmant  for 
the  crown,  a  young  Fleming  named  Perkin  Warbeck, 
landed  in  Cork  in  1492  and  announced  that  he  was 
Eichard  duke  of  York,  one  of  the  two  princes  that  had 
been  kept  in  prison  by  Richard  III.  After  the  ridi- 
culous termination  of  the  Simnel  imposture  one  would 
think  it  hard  for  another  to  gain  a  footing  in  Ireland ; 
yet  AVarbeck  was  at  once  accepted  by  the  citizens  of 
Cork ;  but  his  career,  which  belongs  to  English  rather 
than  to  Irish  history,  need  not  be  followed  up  here. 
It  is  enough  to  say  that  after  causing  considerable 
disturbance  in  Ireland,  he  was  at  length  taken  and 
hanged  at  Tyburn,  along  with  John  Walter  mayor  of 
Cork,  his  chief  supporter  in  that  city.  It  was  mainly 
the  English  colonists  who  were  concerned  in  the 
episodes  of  Simnel  and  Warbeck ;  the  native  Irish  took 
little  or  no  interest  in  either  claimant. 

The  Irish  parliament  was  always  under  the  control  of 
a  few  great  lords,  who  could  have  any  acts  they  pleased 
passed  in  it,  so  that  it  gave  them  great  power,  and  its 
laws  were  often  hasty,  harsh,  and  oppressive,  and  some- 
times dangerous  to  the  king's  sovereignty.  Hemy 
knew  all  this ;  and  the  experience  of  Simnel  and 
AYarbeck  taught  him  that  his  Anglo-Irish  subjects 
might,  at  any  favourable  opportunity,  again  rise  in 
rebellion  for  the  house  of  York.  He  came  to  the 
resolution  to  lessen  the  power  of  the  nobles  by  destroy- 
ing the  independence  of  theii'  parliament ;  and  having 
given  Sir  Edward  Poynings  instructions  to  this  effect, 
he  sent  him  over  as  deputy.  Poynings'  fii'st  proceeding 
was  to  lead  an  expedition  to  the  north  against  O'Han- 
lon  and  Magennis,  who  had  ^ven  shelter  to  some  of 


CHAP.  XXVI.] 


POYJfl^GS    LAW. 


187 


Warbeck's  supporters.  But  lie  heard  a  rumour  that  the 
earl  of  KiMare  was  conspiring  with  these  two  chiefs  to 
intercept  and  destroy  himself  and  his  aimy ;  and  news 
came  also  that  Kildare's  brother  had  risen  in  open 
rebellion  and  had  seized  the  castle  of  Carlow.  On  this, 
Poynings,  patching  up  a  peace  with  O'Hanlon  and 
Magennis,  retiu^ned  south  and  recovered  the  castle. 


Carlow  Castle  in  1843.     From  Mrs.  Hall's  "Ireland." 


In  order  to  carry  out  the  king's  commands,  he  con- 
vened  a   parliament   at   Drogheda   in  November,    tbe 
memorable    parliament   in  which   the  act 
A.D.  l^O*  since  known  as  "Poynings'  Law"  was 
passed.     The  following  are  the  most  im- 
portant provisions  of  this  law  : — 

1 .  No  parliament  was  in  future  to  be  held  in  Ireland 
until  the  heads  of  all  the  acts  intended  to  be  passed  i^ 


188  A  child's  history  of  irki  an  ).  [chap,  xxvi* 

it  had  been  sent  to  the  king,  with  a  full  statement  of 
the  reasons  why  they  were  required,  and  until  these 
acts  had  been  approved  and  permission  to  pass  them 
granted  by  the  king  and  privy  council  of  England. 
This  single  pro\asion  is  what  is  popularly  known  as 
''  Poynings'  Law."  It  was  the  most  important  of  all, 
and  was  indeed  the  only  one  that  turned  out  permanent. 

2.  All  the  laws  lately  made  in  England,  affecting  the 
public  weal,  should  hold  good  in  Ireland.  This  referred 
only  to  English  laws  then  existing;  but  we  must  care- 
fully bear  in  mind  that  it  gave  no  power  to  the  English 
parliament  to  make  laws  for  Ireland  in  the  futui^e. 

3.  The  Statute  of  Kilkenny,  which  had  become  quite 
disregarded,  was  revived  and  confirmed,  except  the 
part  forbidding  the  use  of  the  Irish  tongue,  which  could 
not  be  carried  out,  as  the  language  was  now  used 
eveiywhere,  even  throughout  the  English  settlements. 
But  this  attempt  at  revival  failed  as  completely  as  the 
original  act :  for  no  one  minded  it. 

4.  For  the  purpose  of  protecting  the  settlement,  it 
was  made  felony  to  permit  enemies  or  rebels  to  pass 
through  the  marches ;  and  the  owners  of  march  lands 
were  obliged  to  reside  on  them  or  send  proper  deputies, 
on  pain  of  losing  their  estates. 

5.  The  exaction  of  coyne  and  livery  was  forbidden  in 
any  shape  or  form. 

6.  Many  of  the  Anglo-Irish  families  had  adopted  the 
Irish  war-cries :  the  use  of  these  was  now  strictly 
forbidden.* 


*  The  war-cry  of  the  O'Neills  M'as  Lamh-derg  aboo,  i.  e.,  the 
Eed-hand  to  victory  {lamh,  pron.  lauv,  a  hand).  That  of  the 
O'Briens  and  Mac  Carthys,  Lamh-laidir  aboo,  the  Strong-hand 
to  victory  [laidir,  pron.  lauder,  strong).    The  Kildare  Fitzgeraldg 


CSAP.  XXVI.]  POrNINGS*  LAW.  189 

In  this  parliament  the  earl  of  Kildare  was  attainted 
for  high  treason,  mainly  on  account  of  his  supposed 
conspiracy  with  O'Hanlon  to  destroy  the  deputy;  in 
consequence  of  which  he  was  soon  afterwards  arrested 
and  sent  a  prisoner  to  England.  The  next  chapter  will 
tell  all  about  his  subsequent  career.  ; 

The  general  pui'pose  of  Poynings'  legislation  was  to 
increase  the  power  of  the  king  and  diminish  that  of  the ' 
nobles,  who  were  the  chief  source  of  danger  to  the  crown. 
Up  to  this  the  Irish  parliament  had  been  independent 
it  was  convened  by  the  chief  governor  whenever  and 
wherever  he  pi  ;  sed ;  and  it  made  its  laws  without  any 
interference  fi'om  the  parliament  of  England.  IS'ow 
Poynings'  law  took  away  all  these  gi'eat  privileges ;  and 
the  Irish  parliament  could  no  longer  make  laws  of  any 
kind  whatever  without  the  knowledge  and  consent  of 
the  English  king  and  council.  This  indeed  was  of 
small  consequence  at  the  time  ;  for  the  parliament  was 
only  for  the  Pale,  or  rather  for  the  few  lords  who 
summoned  and  controlled  it,  and  no  native  Irishman 
could  sit  in  it.  But  when  at  a  later  period  English 
law  was  made  to  extend  over  the  whole  country,  and 
the  Irish  parliament  made  laws  for  all  the  people  of 
Ireland,  then  Poynings'  law,  which  still  remained  in 
force,  was  felt  by  the  people  to  be  one  of  their  greatest 
grievances.  In  chapter  lx.  we  shall  see  that  the  Irish 
parliamentary  leaders  succeeded  after  a  long  struggle 
in  having  it  repealed. 

The  English  rule  in  Ireland,  which  had  been  steadily 


took  as  their  cry  Crom  aboo,  from  the  great  Guraldine  castle  of 
Croni  or  Groom  in  Limerick  ;  the  earl  of  Desmond,  Shanit  aboo, 
from  the  castle  of  Shanid  in  Limerick.  The  Butlers'  cry  -was 
Butlej'  aboo.  Most  of  the  other  chiefs,  both  native  and  Arglo- 
Irish,  had  their  several  cries. 


190 


A  CHTLB^S  HISTORY  OF  lEELAND.    [cHAP.  XXVl. 


declining  since  the  time  of  John,  reached  its  lowest  ebb 
about  the  time  of  Poynings'  Law.  In  obedience  to 
one  provision  of  this  law,  a  double  ditch  or  rampart 
was  built  at  the  time  all  along  on  the  boundaiy  of  the 
Leinster  settlement  from  sea  to  sea  to  keep  out  the 
Irish  ;  of  which  some  remains  can  still  be  traced.  This 
little  territory  was  called  the  Pale  ;  and  it  remained  so 
circumscribed  for  many  years,  but  afterwards  became 
L'ular2,ccl  from  time  to  time. 


Group  showing  arras  and  costumes  of  the  period.    Irish  soldiers  and  peasants, 
from  a  drawing  by  Albert  Durer  in  1521,  preserved  at  Vienna.* 


*  Over  the  two  soldiers  is  an  inscription  in  German:  "Here 
go  the  war-men  of  Ireland  beyond  England."  Over  the  three 
peasants :  "  Here  go  the  poor  men  of  Ireland  boyond  England." 
Between  the  two  is  the  date  a.d.  1521.  From  "Kilkenny 
Archaeological  Journal,"  1877,  p.  296,  where  the  original  draw- 
ing is  reproduced. 


Sculpture  on  Window  :  Cathedral  Church,  Glendalough :  Beranger,  2779. 
From  Petrie's  "  Round  Towers." 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 


THE   GEEALDLNES. 

A   r»     140"^  i(;x4J  Henry  VII.  (101509). 
A.  D.    1495-1554  j  ^enry  VIII.  (1509), 

N  all  their  branches  the  Geraldines  had  become 
thoroughly  Irish.  They  spoke  and  wrote  the 
Irish  language  in  their  daily  life,  read  and 
loved  Irish  books  and  Irish  lore  of  every  kind, 
kept  bards,  physicians,  brehons,  historians, 
and  story-tellers,  as  part  of  their  household, 
and  intermarried,  fostered,  and  gossiped  with 
the  leading  Irish  families.  They  were  nearly 
always  at  war;  and  although  they  directed 
their  hostilities  oftenest  against  the  native  chiefs,  the 
Irish  people  thought  no  worse  of  them  on  that  score, 
for  it  was  only  what  the  native  chiefs  themselves  were 
continually  doing.  In  short,  they  were  as  much 
attached  to  all  the  native  customs  as  the  natives  them- 
selves; and  when  the  Reformation  came,  they  were 
champions  of  the  Catholic  religion.  When  we  add  to 
all  this,  that  they  were  known  to  be  of  an  ancient 
and  noble  family,  which  told  for  much  in  Ireland, 
we  have  a  sirflScient  explanation  of  the  well-known 
fact,  that  the  old  Irish  were  rather  more  devoted   to 


192  A  child's  history  of  iukland.   [chap,  xxvii. 

those  GcraldiiiL's  than  to  their  own  chiefs  of  pure 
Celtic  blood. 

The  man  of  most  consequence  of  the  Lcinster  Geral- 
dines,  at  the  beginning  of  the  reign  of  Henry  VII.,  was 
Garrett  or  Gerald  Fitzgerald,  the  eighth  earl  of  Kil- 
dare — ' '  The  Great  Earl " — who  stood  in  near  relations  by 
intermarriage  with  the  O'T^eills,  the  Butlers,  and  others, 
and  was  a  man  of  great  ability,  though  somewhat  odd 
and  eccentric.  AYe  have  seen  in  last  chapter  how  he 
had  headed  the  JSimnel  conspiracy  and  was  pardoned, 
and  how  he  had  been  subsequently  arrested,  and 
sent  to  London  on  suspicion  of  conspiring  against 
deputy  Poynings.  He  Avas  now  in  the  Tower  await- 
ing trial. 

As  Ireland  had  meantime  become  almost  unmanage- 
able, it  struck  King  Henry  VII.  that  perhaps  the  best 
coui'se  to  follow  was  to  govern  the  country  through  him ; 
but  it  was  necessary  that  he  should  first  answer  the 
charges  brought  against  him  by  Poynings  and  others. 
He  had  many  enemies  in  Ireland,  of  whom  a  great  num- 
ber now  came  forward  clamouiing  for  his  condemnation. 
One  of  the  worst  accusations  was  that  he  had  impiously 
burned  the  cathedral  church  of  Cashel;  to  which  he 
replied,  with  a  rough  sort  of  simplicity,  that  he  would 
not  have  done  so  only  he  thought  the  archbishop  was  in 
it.  The  archbishop  himself  (David  Creagh)  was  present 
listening;  and  this  reply  was  so  unexpectedly  plain 
and  blimt,  the  excuse  only  making  the  crime  all  the 
worse,  that  the  king  bui'st  out  laughing.  The  king 
advised  him  to  have  the  aid  of  counsel,  saying  that  he 
might  have  anyone  he  pleased ;  to  which  the  earl 
answered  that  he  would  have  the  best  counsel  in 
England,  namely,  the  king  himself:  at  which  his 
majesty  laughed  as  heartily  as  before.     At  last  when 


CHAP.  XXVII.]  THE  GERALDINES.  193 

one  of  his  accusers  exclaimed  with  gi'eat  vehemence: 
"All  Ireland  cannot  rule  this  man!"  the  king  ended 

the   matter  by  replying:     "Then   if   all 
A.D.  1496    Ireland  cannot  rule  him,  he  shall  rule  all 

Ireland!"  Thus  the  earl  triumphed ;  and 
he  was  restored  and  made  lord  lieutenant. 

The  king  was  not  mistaken  in  his  choice :  the  great 
earl  was  loyal  to  his  trust,  and  turned  out  a  faithful 
and  successful  governor.  The  most  important  event  he 
was  ever  engaged  in  was  the  battle  of  Knockdoe,  which 
came  about  in  this  way.  0' Kelly  chief  of  Hy  Many, 
having  a  quarrel  with  "William  Burke  of  Clanrickard, 
and  finding  himself  unable  to  stand  against  him,  applied 
for  help  to  the  earl  of  Kildare.  The  earl  was  only  too 
glad  to  take  part  in  the  feud ;  for  his  daughter  had  been 
mamed  to  Bui'ke,  who  used  her  so  ill  that  she  had  to 
leave  him.  Kildare  and  0' Kelly  enlisted  on  their  side 
the  chiefs  of  almost  all  the  north  of  Ireland  except 
O'jS'eill.  On  the  other  side  Burke,  knowing  what  was 
coming,  collected  a  considerable  army,  being  joined  by 
many  of  the  native  chiefs  of  the  south,  among  others 
O'Brien  of  Thomond,  Macnamara,  and  0' Carroll;  and 
he  awaited   the   approach  of  his  adversaiy  on  a  low 

hill   called   Knockdoe  —  the  hill   of   the 
A.D.  1504    battle-axes  —  about     eight    miles    from 

Galway.  The  battle  that  followed  was 
the  most  obstinate,  bloody,  and  destructive  fought  in 
Ireland  since  the  Invasion,  with  the  single  exception 
of  the  battle  of  Athemy  (p.  159).  The  southern  men, 
who  were  far  outnumbered  by  the  earl's  forces,  held 
the  field  for  several  hours ;  but  in  the  end  they  suffered 
a  total  overthrow,  with  a  loss  of  upwards  of  2000 ; 
and  the  other  side  also  suffered  severely.  Though  the 
battle  of  Knockdoe  resulted  from  a  private  quarrel,  it  was 

0 


194  A  child's  history  of  IRELAND.      [CHAP.  XXYII, 

really  a  battle  of  Irish  against  Irish ;  one  of  those  sense- 
less conflicts  in  which  they  merely  slaughtered  each 
other  without  any  counterbalancing  advantage.  It  was 
considered  to  have  done  so  great  a  sei-vice  to  the  English 
cause,  by  weakening  the  Irish,  that  the  king  rewarded 
Kildare  by  making  him  a  knight  of  the  garter. 

The  great  earl  was  retained  as  deputy  by  Henry  VIII. 
in  1509;  and  in  the  very  next  year  he  set  out  on  an 
expedition,  which  did  not  end  so  well  for  him  as  the 
battle  of  Knockdoe.  Having  overrun  a  good  part  of 
south  Munster,  he  invaded  Thomond,  but  was  utterly 
routed  at  the  bog  of  Monabraher  near  Limerick,  by 
O'Brien  and  Bui-ke  of  Clani'ickard,  two  of  his  old 
adversaries  at  Knockdoe,  and  barely  saved  himseli 
and  the  remnant  of  his  army  by  flight.  In  no  degree 
checked  by  this  defeat,  the  warlike  earl  continued  his 
fierce  raids,  west,  north,  south,  and  east  in  succession  ; 
but  in  an  attempt  to  take  0' Carroll's  Castle  of  Leap  in 
King's  County,  half  way  between  Kinnitty  and  Roscrea, 
he  received  a  wound  of  which  he  died  in  a  few  days. 

He  was  succeeded  as  deputy,  in  1513,  by  his  son 
GaiTett  Oge  Fitzgerald,  the  ninth  earl,  who  was  quite 
as  fond  of  fighting  as  his  father  had  been,  and  was 
very  successful  in  his  expeditions  against  the  Irish 
chiefs.  His  unbroken  career  of  victory  excited  the 
jealousy  of  some  of  the  other  Anglo-Irish  lords, 
especially  the  Butlers,  the  hereditaiy  foes  of  his 
house,  who  employed  every  means  in  their  power 
to  turn  the  king  against  him.  But  Kildare  counter- 
acted all  these  schemes  so  skilfully,  that  for  a  long 
time  his  enemies  were  unsuccessful ;  till  at  last  Pierce 
Roe  earl  of  Ormond  managed  to  gain  the  ear  of 
Cardinal  Wolsey,  who  disliked  the  Geraldines.  Through 
the   cardinal's  influence  Kildare  was  now   summoned 


CHAP.  XXVn.]  THE  GERALDINES.  195 

to  England  to   answer   charges   of   enricliing  himself 

from  the  crown   revenues    and   of   hold- 
A.D.  1530    ing    traitorous    correspondence    with  the 

Irish  enemies.  Soon  afterwards  King 
Henry  YIII.,  at  Wolsey's  suggestion,  sent  over 
Thomas  Howard  earl  of  Surrey  as  lord  lieutenant. 

From  the  very  day  of  SuiTey's  arrival  he  applied 
himself  to  collect  evidence  against  the  earl  of  Kildare  ; 
taking  down  reports  and  stories  of  every  kind,  aided  all 
through  hy  Pierce  Roe  of  Onnond.  But  all  this  came 
to  nothing  ;  for  meantime  Kildare  mamed  Lady  Eliza- 
beth Grey,  a  near  relative  of  the  king,  which  stopped 
for  the  time  any  further  proceedings  against  him. 

Surrey  at  last  became  heartily  tired  of  his  never- 
ending  wars  with  the  Irish  chiefs,  which  had  no  effect 
in  quieting  the  country  ;  for  no  sooner  was  one  ended 
than  another  broke  out.  He  grew  sick  in  mind  and  sick 
in  body,  and  besought  the  king  for  leave  to  retire, 
which  was  at  last  granted ;  and  he  returned  to  England 
in  1521,  after  a  stay  of  nearly  two  years,  appointing 
as  lord  deputy  Pierce  Eoe,  Kildare's  mortal  enemy. 
The  chief  use  this  new  deputy  made  of  his  power  was 
to  do  all  the  injuiy  he  could  to  Kildare,  several  of 
whose    castles    he    took    and    destroyed.     But   while 

he   was   still   lord   deputy,    Kildare  was 
A.i).  1523    permitted  to  return  to  Ireland.     He  was 

enraged  beyond  measure  on  finding  all 
the  damage  done  in  his  absence ;  and  as  might  have 
been  expected,  the  feud  now  blazed  up  with  tenfold 
fury ;  so  that  the  king  had  to  send  over  commissioners 
to  investigate  the  dispute.  Their  decision  was  for  Kil- 
dare, whom  they  appointed  deputy  in  1524  in  place  of 
Ormond. 

l^ut  now  Kildare  was  exposed  to  danger  from  another 


196  A  child's  history  of  IRELAND.       [COAP.  XXVII. 

quarter.  He  was  directed  by  the  king  to  arrest  the 
earl  of  Desmond,  who  had  been  foolishly  holding  corre- 
spondence with  the  king  of  France  about  an  invasion  of 
Ireland.  He  led  an  army  southwards  on  this  unpleasant 
mission ;  but  Desmond  eluded  pursuit,  and  the  deputy 
returned  without  him  to  Dublin.  It  was  afterwards 
alleged  against  him  that  he  had  intentionally  allowed 
Desmond,  who  was  his  kinsman,  to  escape  arrest,  which 
was  probably  true.  Meantime  his  enemies,  especially 
the  two  most  powerful.  Pierce  Roe  in  Ireland,  and 
Wolsey  in  England,  kept  wide  awake,  watching  his 
proceedings  and  continually  sending  damaging  reports 
about  him.  They  succeeded  at  last  so  far  as  to  have  him 
again  summoned  to  England  in  1526,  to  answer  several 
charges.      But  his  great   influence    and  good  fortune 

again    prevailed,    and    he    was    released 
A.D.  1539    and    restored    to   favour.       Sir    William 

Skeffington  was  appointed  lord  deputy, 
and  Kildare  was  sent  with  him  to  Ireland  to  advise  and 
aid  him.  It  was  easy  to  foresee  that  this  arrangement 
would  not  last  long ;  for  Kildare,  earl  as  he  was,  and 
like  a  king  in  his  ovm  land,  was  too  high  and  proud  to 
act  as  a  mere  adviser  and  subordinate  to  any  English 
knight.  There  were  disagreements  and  bickerings  and 
open  quarrelling,  till  at  last  the  earl  managed  his 
business  so  well  with  the  king,  that  Skeffington  was  re- 
called, and  he  himself  was  appointed  deputy  once  more. 
There  was  now  no  single  enemy  that  he  feared,  and 
he  used  his  great  power  unsparingly.  He  removed 
Archbishop  Allen  from  the  post  of  lord  chancellor,  and 
put  George  Cromer,  archbishop  of  Armagh,  in  his  place. 
He  drew  around  him  the  most  powerful  of  the  Irish 
chiefs,  and  gave  one  of  his  daughters  in  marriage  to 
O'Conor  of  Offaly,  and  another  to  O'CarroU  of  Ely.    He 


CHAP.  XXVn.]  THE  GERALDINES.  197 

ravaged  the  territory  of  the  Butlers  in  Kilkenny ;  and 
at  his  instigation  his  brother  James  Fitzgerald  and  his 
cousin  Conn  O'jN'eill  entered  Louth — a  part  of  the  Pale 
— burned  the  English  villages,  and  di'ove  away  the 
cattle.  All  these  proceedings  were  eagerly  watched 
and  reported  to  the  king  with  exaggeration  by  Kildare's 
enemies;  the  result  of  which  was  that  for  the  third 
time  he  was  summoned  to  England  to  give  an  account 
of  his  government.  There  is  some  reason  to  suspect 
that  he  contemplated  open  rebellion  and  resistance ;  for 
now  he  fui^nished  his  castles  with  great  guns,  pikes, 
powder,  etc.,  from  the  government  stores  in  the  castle 
of  Dublin.     At  any  rate  he  delayed  obeying  the  order 

as  long  as  he  could.  But  at  last  there 
A.D.  1534:    came   a   peremptory    mandate    fi'om    the 

king ;  and  the  earl,  with  a  heavy  heart, 
set  about  preparing  for  his  journey:  for  he  seems  to 
have  had  some  forebodings  of  coming  evil. 


V 


Sig^nature  of  Gerald  9th  earl  of  Kildare.      "  Your  moost  humble  subjict,  G.  of  Kyldare 
From  GUbert's  "Fac-Sim.  Nat.  MSS.' 


Sculpture  on  Chancel  Arch,  Monastery  Church,  Glendalough. 
From  Petric's  "  Round  Towers,"  1845. 


CHAPTER   XXVIII. 

THE    REBELLION    OF    SILKEN    THOMAS. 
A.D.  1534-1535.- Henry  VIII. 

AEEETT  Oge  Fitzgeeald,  the  lord  deputy, 
when  setting  out  for  England  in  obedience 
to  the  king's  mandate,  left  his  son,  the 
young  Lord  Thomas,  as  deputy  in  his 
place.  Before  bidding  the  young  man 
farewell,  he  spoke  in  this  manner  to  him 
in  presence  of  the  council : — "  Son  Thomas,  you  know 
that  my  sovereign  lord  the  king  hath  sent  for  me  into 
England  :  and  what  shall  betide  me  God  knoweth,  for 
I  know  not.  But  however  it  falleth,  I  am  now  well 
stept  in  years,  and  so  I  must  soon  decease,  because  I 
am  old.  Wherefore  insomuch  as  my  winter  is  well 
nigh  ended,  and  the  spring  of  your  age  is  now  budding, 
my  will  is  that  you  behave  so  wisely  in  these  your  gi-een 
years,  as  that  with  honour  you  may  grow  to  the  catching 
of  that  hoary  winter  in  which  you  see  your  father  fast 
»uring.  And  whereas  it  pleaseth  the  king  his  majesty 
that  upon  my  departure  here  hence  I  should  substitute 
in  my  room  such  a  one  as  I  could  answer  for :  albeit 
I  know  your  years  are  tender  and  your  judgment  not 
fully  rectified  :  and  therefore  I  might  with  good  cause 
be  excused  from  putting  a  naked  sword  in  a  young 


CHAP.  XXVIH.]       EEBELLTON  OF  SILKEN  THOMAS.  199 

man's  hand ;  yet  forasmuch  as  I  am  youi'  father  I  am 
well  contented  to  bear  that  oar-stroke  with  you  in 
steering  your  ship,  because  as  youi-  father  I  may  com- 
mend you  [for  steering  well],  and  coiTCct  you  as  my 
son  for  the  wrong  handling  of  youi'  helm.  And  now  I 
am  resolved  day  by  day  to  learn  rather  how  to  die  in 
the  fear  of  God,  than  to  live  in  the  pomp  of  the  world. 
Wherefore  my  son  in  all  your  affairs  be  ruled  by  this 
Board,  that  for  wisdom  is  able  to  lesson  you  with  sound 
and  sage  advice.  For  albeit  in  authority  you  rule 
them,  yet  in  counsel  they  must  rule  you.  My  son, 
although  my  fatherly  affection  would  make  my  dis- 
coui'se  longer,  yet  I  trust  yoiu'  good  inclination  permits 
it  to  be  shorter.  And  upon  that  assm^ance,  here  in  the 
presence  of  this  honoiu'able  assembly,  I  deliver  you 
this  sword  of  office."  Thus  in  tears  the  earl  spoke  his 
last  farewell ;  and  committing  his  son  and  the  members 
of  the  council  to  God,  he  set  sail  for  England.  On 
his  arrival  in  London  he  was  sent  prisoner  to  the  Tower 
on  various  charges.  He  might  possibly  have  got  through 
his  present  difficulties,  as  he  had  through  many  others, 
but  for  what  befell  in  Ireland,  which  will  now  be 
related. 

Lord  Thomas  Fitzgerald,  who  was  afterwards  known 
as  *'  Silken  Thomas,"  from  the  gorgeous  trappings  of 
himself  and  his  retinue,  was  then  in  his  twenty-first 
year,  brave,  open,  and  generous.  But  the  earl  his 
father  could  not  have  made  a  more  unfortunate  choice 
as  deputy ;  for  there  were  in  Dublin  plotting  enemies 
who  hated  all  his  race,  and  they  led  the  young  man  to 
ruin  by  a  base  trap.  They  spread  a  report  that  his 
father  had  been  beheaded  in  England,  and  that  all  his 
relations  were  going  to  be  treated  in  the  same  way. 
Whereupon,  with  his  brilliant  retinue  of  seven  score 


200  A  CHILD'S  niSTORT  OF  IHELAND.      [chap.  XXVIII. 

horsemen,  the  impetuous  young  lord  rode  through  the 
streets  to  St.  Maiy's  Abbey  ;  and  entering  the  chamber 
where  the  council  sat,  he  openly  renounced  his  allegi- 
ance, and  proceeded  to  deliver  up  the  sword  of  office 

and  the  robes  of  state.     His  friend  Arch- 
A.D.  1534:    bishop  Cromer,    lord   chancellor  (p.  196) 

besought  him  with  tears  in  his  eyes  to 
forego  his  piu-pose ;  but  at  that  moment  the  voice 
of  an  Irish  bard  was  heard  from  among  the  yoimg 
nobleman's  followers,  praising  the  Silken  Lord,  and 
calling  on  him  to  avenge  his  father's  death.  Casting 
the  sword  fi'om  his  hand,  he  rushed  forth  with  his  men 
to  enter  on  that  wild  and  hopeless  struggle  which 
ended  in  the  ruin  of  himself  and  his  family.  The  earl, 
his  father,  on  hearing  of  his  son's  rebellion,  tooJi  to  his 
bed,  and  being  abeady  sick  of  palsy,  died  in  a  few  days 
broken-hearted.  Ey  his  death,  his  son  Lord  Thomas 
became  the  tenth  earl  of  Eildare. 

Collecting  a  large  force  of  the  Irish  septs  in  and 
around  the  Pale,  Lord  Thomas  led  them  to  Dublin,  and 
laid  siege  to  the  castle,  to  which  several  of  the  leading 
citizens,  including  Archbishop  Allen,  had  retired  on  the 
first  appearance  of  danger.  The  archbishop,  having 
good  reason  to  dread  the  Geraldines,  for  he  had  always 
shown  himself  bitterly  hostile  to  them,  attempted 
dui'ing  the  siege  to  make  his  escape  by  night  in  a  vessel 
that  lay  in  the  Liffey ;  but  he  was  taken  and  brought 
before  Lord  Thomas  at  Ai'taine.  He  threw  himself  on 
his  knees  to  beg  for  mercy,  and  the  young  lord,  pitying 
him,  ordered  his  attendants  to  take  him  away  in  custody 
and  then  turned  aside ;  but  they,  wilfully  taking  a 
wrong  meaning  from  his  words,  mui'dered  the  archbishop 
on  the  spot.  This  feai'ful  crime  brought  a  sentence  of 
excommunication  against  Lord  Thomas  and  his  followers. 


CHAP.  XXVIII.]       REBELLION  OF  SILKEN  THOMAS. 


201 


^N'evertheless  tlie  rebellion  went  on,  and  several  power- 
ful Irish  chiefs  joined  his  standard.  But  his  men  were 
not  able  to  take  Dublin  Castle ;  and  at  last  the  citizens, 
tired  of  their  disorderly  conduct,  turned  on  them  and 
chased  them  outside  the  walls  of  the  city. 

Sir  William  Skeffington  had  been  appointed  deputy 
by  the  king  to  put  down  the  rebellion  :  but  he  was  ill, 
and  could  do  nothing  during  the  whole  winter ;  so  that 


*±_^_ 

- 

r 

11 

r-    ^^y^^. 


Maynooth  Castle  at  present:   Photog^raph.    From  "Journal  of  the  Kildare 
ArchaeologicaV  Society." 


the  havoc  and  ruin  went  on  unchecked.  In  March, 
1535,  he  began  his  measures  by  laying  siege  to  the 
castle  of  Maynooth,  the  strongest  of  Fitzgerald's  for- 
tresses, which  was  defended  by  1 00  men.  After  a  siege 
of  nine  days,  duiing  which  the  castle  was  battered  by 
artilleiy,  then  for  the  fii'st  time  used  on  any  important 
occasion  in  Ireland,  he  took  it  by  storm,  except  the 
great  keep  ;  and  the  garrison  who  defended  this,  now 


202  A.  child's  history  of  IRELAND.      [cHAP.  XXVIII. 

reduced  to  thirty-seven  men,  seeing  the  case  hopeless, 
surrendered,  doubtless  expecting  mercy.  But  they 
were  all  executed.  The  fall  of  Maynooth  damped  the 
spirits  of  Lord  Thomas's  adherents  ;  and  one  of  his  best 
fi'iends,  O'Moore  of  Leix,  was  induced  by  the  earl  of 
Ossory,  one  of  the  Butlers,  to  withdraw  fi'om  him. 

The  rebellion  had  already  brought  the  English  Pale 
to  a  frightful  state,  thi'ee-fourths  of  Kildare  and  a 
great  part  of  Meath  burned  and  depopulated ;  while  to 
add  to  the  ruin  and  misery  of  the  people,  the  plague 
was  raging  all  over  the  countiy.  Lord  Leonard  Grey, 
marshal  or  military  commander  of  Ireland,  was  at  last 
directed  to  place  himself  at  the  head  of  the  army  and 
to  take  more  active  measui'es.  He  made  short  work  of 
the  rebellion.  Lord  Thomas's  remaining  allies  rapidly 
fell  off;  and  he  and  his  faithful  friend  0' Conor  sent 
offers  of  submission.  0' Conor  was  received  and  par- 
doned ;  and  Lord  Thomas  delivered  himself  up  to  Lord 
Grey,  on  condition  that  his  life  should  be  spared. 

He  was  conveyed  to  England  in  1535  and  imprisoned 
in  the  Tower.  Here  he  was  left  for  about  eighteen 
months,  neglected  and  in  great  misery.  There  is  extant 
a  pitiful  letter  wi'itten  by  him  while  in  the  Tower  in 

Signature  of  Silken  Thomas  to  letter  of  1536.    "  By  me  Thomas  fytz Gerald."    From 
Gilbert's  "  Fac-Sim.  Nat.  MSS.,"  in  which  is  a  fac-simile  of  the  whole  letter. 

1536  to  an  old  sei'vant  in  Ireland,  asking  that  his  friend 
O'Brien  should  send  him  £20  to  buy  food  and  clothes : — 
*'  I  never  had  any  money  since  I  came  into  prison  but 
a  noble,  nor  I  have  had  neither  hosen,  doublet,  nor 
shoes,  nor  shii't  but  one ;  nor  any  other  garment  but  a 
single  frieze  gown,  instead  of  a  velvet  furred  with 


CHAP.  XXVin.]       REBELLION  OF  SILKEN  THOMAS.  203 

lambskin  [as  formerly],  and  so  I  have  gone  shirtless 
and  barefoot  and  barelegged  divers  times  (when  it  hath 
not  been  very  warm) ;  and  so  I  should  have  done  still, 
but  that  poor  prisoners,  of  their  gentleness,  hath  some- 
times given  me  old  hosen  and  shoes  and  shirts." 

At  the  time  of  his  arrest  his  five  uncles  were 
treacherously  taken  by  Grey,  who  invited  them  to  a 
banquet,  and  had  them  seized  and  manacled  on  their 
arrival.  Though  it  was  well  known  that  three  of  them 
had  openly  discountenanced  the  rebellion,  and  notwith- 
standing the  promise  made  by  Grey  to  the  young  lord, 
he  and  his  uncles  were  all  executed  at  Tyburn  in  1537. 
Thus  fell,  at  one  cruel  blow,  the  gi^eat  and  illustrious 
house  of  Kildare :  for  though  the  earldom  and  an  heir 
to  it  remained,  and  the  lands  were  ultimately  restored, 
the  family  never  attained  its  former  power  and  magni- 
ficence. During  the  rebellion,  though  it  lasted  little 
more  than  a  year,  the  county  Kildare  was  wasted  and 
depopulated,  and  the  whole  Pale,  as  well  as  the  country 
round  it,  suffered  unspeakable  desolation  and  misery. 
It  was  a  reckless  entei-prise,  for  there  never  was  the 
remotest  chance  of  success :  the  only  excuse  was  the 
extreme  youth  and  inexperience  of  Lord  Thomas 
Fitzgerald. 

Notwithstanding  the  efforts  of  Xing  Henry  YIII.  to 
extirpate  the  house  of  Kildare,  there  remained  the  two 
sons  of  the  ninth  earl  by  Lady  Elizabeth  Grey. 
Gerald  (or  Garrett)  the  elder,  then  about  twelve 
years  of  age,  was  at  Donore  near  IS'aas  in  Kildare, 
sick  of  small-pox,  at  the  tim'e  of  the  apprehension 
of  his  five  uncles.  His  faithful  tutor  Thomas  Leverous, 
afterwards  bishop  of  Kildare,  fearing  for  his  safety, 
wrapped  him  up  warm  in  flannels,  and  had  him 
secretly  conveyed  in  a  cleeve  or  basket  to  Thomond, 


204  A  child's  HISTOUY  of  IRELAND.       [CHAP.  XXVIII. 

where  he  remained  under  the  protection  of  O'Brien. 
The  other  son,  then  an  infant,  was  in  England  with  his 
mother.  It  must  he  remembered  that  Leonard  Grey, 
now  lord  justice,  was  uncle  to  these  two  children, 
for  their  mother  Lady  Elizabeth  was  his  sister;  but 
notwithstanding  this  he  was  quite  earnest  in  his  en- 
deavours to  capture  the  boy. 

Great  efforts  were  now  made  to  discover  the  place  of 
young  Gerald's  retreat ;  and  certain  death  awaited  him 
if  he  should  be  captured.  Eut  he  had  friends  in  every 
part  of  Ireland,  for  the  Irish,  both  native  and  of  English 
descent,  had  an  extraordinary  love  for  the  house  of 
Kildare.  By  sending  him  from  place  to  place  disguised, 
his  guardians  managed  to  baffle  the  spies  that  were  eveiy- 
where  on  the  watch  for  him.  Sometimes  the  Irish 
chiefs  that  were  suspected  of  protecting  him  were 
threatened,  or  their  territories  were  wasted  by  his  uncle 
the  lord  justice ;  and  large  bribes  were  o:ffered  to  give 
him  up ;  but  all  to  no  pui'pose. 

When  Thomond  became  an  unsafe  asylum,  he  was 
sent  by  night  to  Kilbrittain  in  Cork,  to  his  aunt  Lady 
Eleanor  Mac  Carthy,  widow  of  Mac  Carthy  Eeagh  and 
sister  of  the  boy's  father,  who  watched  over  him  with 
unshaken  fidelity.  While  he  was  under  her  charge, 
Manus  O'Donnell  chief  of  Tirconnell  made  her  an  offer 
of  marriage,  which  she  accepted,  mainly  for  the  sake  of 
securing  a  powerful  fi'iend  for  her  outlawed  nephew. 
In  the  middle  of  June,  1537,  the  lady  travelled  with 
young  Gerald  all  the  way  fi^om  Cork  to  Donegal,  through 
Thomond  and  Connaught,  escorted  and  protected  every- 
where by  the  chiefs  through  whose  temtories  they 
passed.  The  illustrious  wayfarers  must  have  been  well 
known  as  they  moved  slowly  along,  yet  none  of  the 
people  attempted  to  betray  them.     The  journey  was 


(.IIAP.  XXVllI.J       KEUELLIOM   OF  SILAEM    IHOMAS.  205 

performed  without  the  least  accident;  and  she  and 
O'Donnell  were  immediately  married. 

The  earls  of  Kildare  were  connected,  either  by  blood 
or  marriage,  with  most  of  the  leading  Irish  families, 
both  native  and  Anglo-Irish,  who  were  all  incensed  at 
the  execution  of  the  six  Geraldines;  and  the  chiefs, 
headed  by  Conn  O'j^eill  prince  of  Tyi'one,  a  near  cousin 
of  the  Kildare  family,  now  (1537)  fonned  a  league — 
the  First  Geraldine  League — which  included  the 
O'Donnells,  the  Desmonds,  the  0' Conors,  the  O'Briens, 
the  M'Carthys,  and  many  others,  with  the  object  of 
restoring  the  young  nobleman  to  his  rightful  place, 
appointing  a  guard  of  twenty-four  horsemen  to  wait 
on  him  continually.  This  gi^eatly  alarmed  the  authori- 
ties, and  extraordinary  efforts  were  made  to  captui^e 
him,  but  all  in  vain. 

At  the  end  of  two  years  Lady  Eleanor,  having  reason 
to  believe  that  her  husband  was  about  to  betray  the 
boy,  had  him  placed,  disguised  as  a  peasant,  on  board  a 
vessel  which  conveyed  him  to  St.  Malo.  On  the  Conti- 
nent he  was  received  with  great  distinction.  He  was 
however  dogged  eveiywhere  by  spies,  gi'eedy  to  earn  the 
golden  reward  for  his  capture ;  but  he  succeeded  in 
eluding  them  all.  And  he  was  pursued  from  kingdom 
to  kingdom  by  the  English  ambassador,  who  in  vain 
demanded  from  the  several  sovereigns  that  he  should  be 
given  up.  He  found  his  way  at  last  to  Eome  to  his  kins- 
man Cardinal  Pole,  who  gave  him  safe  asylum,  and  edu- 
cated him  as  became  a  prince. 

After  a  career  full  of  adventiu'e  and  many  narrow 
escapes,  he  was  reinstated  in  all  his  possessions  by 
Edward  YI.  in  1552 ;  and  in  1554  Queen  Mary  restored 
his  title,  and  he  succeeded  as  the  eleventh  earl  of 
kildare, 


From  Miss  Stokes's  "  Early  Christian  Architecture,"  76. 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 


SUBMISSION     OF    THE    CHIEFS. 
A.D.  1535-1541— Henry  Vin. 

ATTFEs  had  now  (1535)  come  to  such  a  pass 
in  Ireland  that  the  English  government 
had  to  choose  one  or  the  other  of  two 
courses :  either  to  give  up  the  country 
altogether,  or  to  put  forth  the  strength  they  had 
hitherto  held  hack  and  regain  their  authority.  Hemy 
YIII.,  with  his  strong  will,  determined  to  attempt  the 
restoration  of  the  English  power,  and,  as  we  shall  see, 
he  succeeded. 

A  few  years  hefore  the  time  we  have  now  arrived  at, 
King  Henry  had  begun  his  quarrel  with  Eome,  the 
upshot  of  which  was  that  he  threw  off  all  spiritual 
allegiance  to  the  Pope,  and  made  himself  supreme  head 
of  the  church  in  his  own  kingdom  of  England.  He 
made  little  or  no  change  in  religion :  on  the  contrary 
he  did  his  best  to  maintain  the  chief  doctrines  of  the 
Catholic  chm^h,  and  to  resist  the  progi'ess  of  the 
Refoi-mation.  All  he  wanted  was  that  he,  and  not  the 
Pope,  should  be  head. 

He  was  now  determined  to  be  head  of  the  church  in 
Ireland  also ;  and  to  carry  out  his  measures,  he  employed 
the  deputy  Skeffington,  the  earl  of  Ormond,  and  George 


CHAP.  XXIX.]        SUBMISSION  OF  THE  CHIEFS.  207 

Brown,  formerly  a  London  friar,  whom  the  king  ap- 
pointed archbishop  of  Dublin  in  place  of  the  mui'dered 
Ai'chbishop  Allen.  Brown  now — 1535 — went  to  work 
with  great  energy ;  but  he  was  vehemently  opposed  by 
Cromer  archbishop  of  Armagh;  and  he  made  no  im- 
pression on  the  Anglo-Irish  of  the  Pale,  who  showed 
not  the  least  disposition  to  go  with  him.  Finding  all 
his  efforts  fail,  a  parliament  was  convened  by  his  advice 
in  Dublin,  which  passed  an  act  making  the  king 
supreme  spiritual  head  of  the  church.  An  oath  of 
supremacy  was  to  be  taken  by  all  government  officers, 

i.e.  an  oath  that  the  king  was  spiritual 
A.D.  1536    head   of  the   church ;     and  anyone  who 

was  bound  to  take  it  and  refused  was 
adjudged  guilty  of  treason.  Appeals  to  the  Pope  in 
matters  connected  with  the  church  were  forbidden : 
the  king  would  henceforward  settle  all  these.  The 
monasteries  all  through  Ireland,  except  a  few  in  some 
remote  districts,  were  suppressed ;  and  their  property 
was  either  kept  for  the  king  or  given  to  laymen :  about 
four  hundi'ed  altogether  were  broken  up,  and  the  great 
body  of  the  inmates  were  turned  out  on  the  world 
without  any  provision. 

The  deputy.  Lord  Grey,  now  entered  vigorously  on 
the  task  of  restoring  quietness  ;  for  the  Geraldine 
League  was  still  kept  up,  and  the  disturbances  caused 
by  the  rebellion  continued.  After  a  great  deal  of  fight- 
ing he  reduced  most  of  the  chiefs ;  and  though  he  failed 
to  bring  Desmond  and  O'Brien  to  submission,  he  so 
weakened  the  League  that  it  never  came  to  anything. 
Hitherto  the  English  kings,  from  the  time  of 
John,  had  borne  the  title  of  "Lord  of  Ireland":  it 
was  now  resolved  to  confer  on  Henry  the  title  of 
**  35ing  of  Ireland,"    With  this  object  a  parliament  was 


208  A  child's  history  of  IRELAND.      [cHAP.  XXIX. 

assembled  in  Dublin  on  June  1 2tli ;  and  in  order  to  lend 
greater  importance  to  its  decisions,  a  number  of  the 
leading  Irish  chiefs  were  induced  to  attend.  This 
parliament  accordingly  is  remarkable  as  being  the  first 

ever  attended  by  native  chiefs.     Among 
A.D.  IS^l    them  were  also  many  Anglo-Irish  chiefs 

who  had  seldom  or  never  before  been  in 
parliament.  For  the  king  had  instructed  his  deputy, 
Sir  Anthony  Sentleger,  to  treat  with  them  all  in  a 
kindly  and  generous  spirit ;  and  as  they  were  by  this 
time  heartily  weary  of  strife,  they  showed  a  general 
disposition  to  meet  the  king's  offers  of  reconciliation 
and  peace.  The  act  conferring  the  title  of  King  of 
Ireland  on  Heury  and  his  successors  was  passed  through 
both  houses  rapidly,  and  without  opposition.  The 
Irish,  and  many  of  the  Anglo- Irish  lords,  did  not  under- 
stand one  word  of  English  ;  and  they  were  much 
pleased  when  the  earl  of  Ormond  translated  into  Irish 
for  them  the  speeches  of  the  lord  chancellor  and  the 
speaker.  There  was  general  rejoicing,  and  titles  were 
conferred  on  many  of  the  chiefs.  Conn  O'Keill  was 
made  earl  of  Tyrone,  and  his  (reputed)  son  Matthew 
was  made  baron  of  Dungannon,  with  the  right  to  suc- 
ceed as  earl  of  Tyrone.  O'Brien  was  made  earl  of 
Thomond;  Mac  William  Burke  was  created  earl  of 
Clanrickard ;  and  many  other  chiefs  all  over  the 
country  had  minor  titles. 

With  the  career  of  Henry  VIII.  in  England  we  have 
no  concern  here ;  for  this  book  is  an  Irish,  not  an 
English  history.  Putting  out  of  sight  the  question  of 
supremacy  and  the  suppression  of  the  Irish  monas- 
teries, Hemy's  treatment  of  Ireland  was  on  the  whole 
considerate  and  conciliatory,  though  with  an  occasional 
outburst  of  cruelty.     He  persistently  refused  to  expel 


CHAP.  XXX.  J  NEW  CAUSES  OF  STEIEE.  209 

or  exterminate  the  native  Irish  people  to  make  room 
for  new  colonies,  though  often  urged  to  do  so  by  his 
mischievous  Irish  officials.  The  result  was  that  the 
end  of  his  reign  foimd  the  chiefs  submissive  and  con- 
tented, the  countiy  at  peace,  and  the  English  power  in 
Ireland  stronger  than  ever  it  had  been  before.  Well 
would  it  have  been,  both  for  England  and  Ireland,  if  a 
similar  line  of  conduct  had  been  followed  in  the  suc- 
ceeding reigns.  Then  oiu'  history  would  have  been 
very  different,  and  the  tragic  story  that  foUows  would 
never  have  to  be  told. 


CHAPTEE  XXX. 

NEW      CAUSES      OF       STEIFE. 

F  there  had  been  no  influences  from  the  out- 
side to  stir  up  discord  after  the  time  of 
Hemy  YIII.,  it  is  pretty  certain  that  the 
Iiish  people  of  all  classes,  with  their  own 
parliament,  would  have  settled  down  in 
peace,  prosperity,  and  contentment  under  the 
rule  of  the  kings  of  England  ;  and  there  now 
appeared  every  prospect  that  this  state  of 
things  would  come  to  pass.  But  there  were 
causes  of  strife  in  store  for  Ireland  that  no  one  at  the 
time  ever  di'camed  of ;  so  that  the  condition  of  the 
country,  instead  of  improving,  became  gradually  much 
worse  than  ever  it  had  been,  even  duiing  the  evil 
times  we  have  been  treating  of.  Before  resuming 
our  regular  narrative,  it  will  be  better  to  state 
p 


210  A  child's  history  of  IRELAND.      LcHAP.  XXX 

the  circumstances  that  brought  about  this  state  of 
things. 
^  After  the  death  of  Henry  YIII.,  the  government  in 
course  of  time  entered  on  the  task  of  forcing  the  Irish 
[)eople  to  become  Protestant ;  and  they  also  began  to 
plant  the  country  with  colonies  from  England  and 
Scotland,  for  whom  the  native  inhabitants  were  to  be 
expelled.  These  two  projects  were  either  directly  or 
indirectly  the  causes  of  nearly  all  the  di'cadful  wars 
that  desolated  this  unhappy  country  during  the  next 
century  and  a  half  :  for  the  Irish  people  resisted  both. 
One  project — the  Plantations — partially  succeeded  :  the 
other — the  religious  one — failed. 

Eut  there  were  other  circumstances  that  tended  to 
bring  on  disturbance,  though  of  less  importance  than 
the  two  above-mentioned.  It  will  be  recollected  that  an 
Irish  chief  had  a  tract  of  land  for  life,  which,  after  his 
death  went,  by  the  Law  of  Tanistry,  to  his  successor 
(p.  43).  Put  now  when  a  chief  who  had  got  an  Eng- 
lish title  fi'om  the  king  died,  his  eldest  son  or  his  next 
heir  succee ''ed  to  title  and  land,  according  to  English 
law ;  but  according  to  the  Irish  custom,  he  whom  the 
tribe  elected  succeeded  to  the  chief  ship  and  to  the  mensal 
land.  Thus  when  this  titled  chief  died,  English  and 
Irish  law  were,  in  a  double  sense,  opposed  to  each  other, 
and  there  was  generally  a  contest,  both  for  the  headship 
and  for  the  land,  in  which  the  government  suj)ported  the 
heii',  and  the  tribe  the  new  chief  elected  by  them.  This 
was  the  origin  of  many  very  serious  distm^bances. 

Another  fruitful  source  of  bitter  heartburnings  was 
the  continual  and  most  unwise  harshness  of  the  govern- 
ment, by  which  they  turned  both  natives  and  colonists 
against  them.  To  such  an  extent  was  this  carried — so 
odious  did  the  authorities  make  themselves — without 


CHAP.  XXX.]  NEW  CAUSES  OF  STBIFE.  211 

the  least  necessity,  that  any  invader,  no  matter  fi'om 
what  quarter,  would  have  been  welcomed  and  aided,  by 
both  native  Irish  and  Anglo-Irish. 

A  disquieting  agency  less  serious  than  any  of  the 
preceding,  but  still  a  decided  cause  of  distiu'bance,  was 
the  settled  policy  of  the  Tudors  to  anglicise  the  Irish 
people ;  to  make  them,  as  it  were,  English  in  everything. 
To  accomplish  this  the  government  employed  all  the 
means  at  their  disposal,  and  employed  them  in  vain. 
Acts  of  parliament  were  passed  commanding  the  natives 
to  di'op  their  Irish  language  and  learn  English — a  thing 
impossible  for  a  whole  people — to  take  English  names 
instead  of  theii'  own,  and  to  ride  (with  saddle),  dress,  and 
live  after  the  English  fashion.  The  legislators  under- 
took to  regulate  how  the  hair  was  to  be  worn  and  how 
the  beard  was  to  be  clipped  ;  and  for  women,  the  coloui' 
of  their  dresses,  the  number  of  yards  of  material  they 
were  to  use,  the  sort  of  hats  they  were  to  wear,  and 
many  other  such  like  silly  provisions.  These  laws,  as 
might  be  expected,  were  hardly  ever  obeyed,  so  that  they 
generally  came  to  nothing  :  for  the  people  went  on 
speaking  Irish,  shaving,  riding  without  saddle,  and 
dressing  just  the  same  as  before.  But  like  all  such 
laws,  they  were  very  exasperating,  for  they  put  it  in  the 
power  of  any  ill-conditioned  person  to  insult  and  harass 
his  Irish  neighbour's  ;  and  they  were  among  the  causes 
that  rendered  the  Irish  government  of  that  time  so 
universally  hated  in  Ireland. 

The  death  of  Henry  YIII.  removed  all  check  to  the 
Eeformation,  which  was  now  pushed  forward  vigorously 
in  England.  In  1551,  the  fifth  year  of  Edward's  reign, 
the  chief  Protestant  doctrines  and  forms  of  worship  were 
proclaimed  in  Ireland  by  Sir  Anthony  Sentleger,  while 
George  Brown  archbishop  of  Dublin  exerted  himself  to 
'  p2 


212  A  child's  history  of  IRELAND.     [cHAP.  XXX. 

spread  the  Reformation :  but  they  could  only  reach 
the  few  people  in  the  service  of  the  government, 
and  the  lleformation  made  no  progress.  The  work 
was  canied  on,  however,  without  violence;  and  there 
was  on  the  whole  little  distui'bance  in  Ireland  on 
the  score  of  religion  during  Edward's  short  reign. 

Queen  Mary,  who  succeeded  Edward  VI.  in  1553, 
restored  the  Catholic  religion  in  England  and  Ireland ; 
but  Ireland,  duiing  her  reign,  was  quite  fi'ee  from 
religious  persecution.  The  Catholics  were  now  the 
masters;  but  they  showed  no  disposition  whatever  to 
molest  the  few  Protestants  that  lived  among  them, 
allowing  them  full  liberty  to  worship  in  their  own  way. 
Ireland  indeed  was  regarded  as  such  a  haven  of  safety, 
that  many  Protestant  families  fled  hither  during  the 
troubles  of  Mary's  reign  in  England. 

On  the  death  of  Mary  in  1558,  Elizabeth  became 
queen.  Hemy  YIII.  had  transferred  the  headship  of 
the  church  fi'om  the  Pope  to  himself ;  Edward  YI.  had 
changed  the  state  religion  from  Catholic  to  Protestant ; 
Maiy  from  Protestant  to  Catholic ;  and  now  there  was 
to  be  a  fourth  change,  followed  by  results  far  more 
serious  and  lasting  than  any  pre\4ously  experienced.  A 
parliament  was  assembled  in  Dublin  in  1560,  to  restore 
the  Protestant  religion ;  and  in  a  few  weeks  the  whole 
system  introduced  by  Mary  was  reversed.  The  Act  of 
Supremacy  was  revived,  and  all  officials  and  clergymen 
were  to  take  the  oath  or  be  dismissed.  The  Act  of 
Uniformity  was  also  reintroduced.  This  was  an  act 
commanding  all  people  to  use  the  Book  of  Common 
Prayer  (the  Protestant  Prayer  Book),  and  to  attend  the 
Protestant  service  on  Sunday  under  pain  of  censui'e  and 
a  fine  of  twelve  pence  for  each  absence — about  twelve 
shillings  of  our  money. 


CHAP.  XXX.]  NEW  CAUSES  OF  STKIPE.  213 

Wherever  these  new  regulations  were  enforced,  the 
Catholic  clergy  had  of  coui'se  to  abandon  their  churches, 
for  they  could  not  hold  them  without  taking  the  oath. 
But  they  went  among  the  people  and  took  good  care  of 
religion  just  the  same  as  before.  In  some  places  the 
new  Act  of  ITniformity  was  now  brought  sharply  into 
play,  and  fines  were  inflicted  on  those  who  absented 
themselves  fi'om  church ;  but  this  compulsion  prevailed 
only  in  the  Pale  and  in  some  few  other  places.  In  far 
the  gi'eatest  part  of  Ireland  the  government  had  no 
influence,  and  the  Catholics  were  not  interfered  with. 
Even  within  the  Pale  the  great  body  of  the  people  took 
no  notice  of  proclamations,  the  law  could  not  be  enforced, 
the  Act  of  Uniformity  was  very  much  a  dead  letter, 
and  the  gTeater  number  of  the  parishes  remained  in 
the  hands  of  the  priests.  From  the  time  of  Elizabeth 
till  the  disestablishment  of  the  church  in  1869,  Pro- 
testantism remained  the  religion  of  the  state  in  Ireland. 

Duiing  the  centiuy  following  the  death  of  King 
Hemy  YIII.  there  were  four  gi^eat  rebellions  which 
almost  depopulated  the  countiy:  the  Rebellion  of 
Shane  O'Neill,  the  Geraldine  Rebellion,  the  Rebellion 
of  Hugh  O'iS'eill,  and  the  Rebellion  of  1641  :  ai'tei 
which  came  the  War  of  the  Revolution.  In  the  follow- 
ing chapters  these  will  be  all  related  in  the  proper 
order. 


Sculpture  on  a  Column,  Church  of  the  Monastery.  Glendalough. 
From  Petrie's  "  Round  Towers,"  260 


CHAPTER  XXXI. 

THE    REBELLION    OF    SHANE    o'nEILL. 

/Ed-ward  VI.  (to  i';=;3). 
A.D.  1551-1567     Mary  (is^3  to  1558). 
(  Elizabeth  (1558). 

T  will  be  remembered  that  wben  Conn  O'Neill 
was  created  earl  of  Tyrone,  the  yoimg  man 
Matthew,  his  reputed  son,  was  made  baron 
of  Dungannon  with  the  right  to  succeed  to 
the  earldom  (p.  208).  Conn  had  adopted 
this  Matthew,  believing  him  to  be  his  son, 
though  there  was  then,  as  there  has  been  to 
this  day,  a  doubt  about  it.  The  earl's  eldest 
legitimate  son  Shane,  afterwards  well  known 
by  the  name  of  John  the  Proud,  was  a  mere  boy 
when  Matthew  was  made  baron.  But  now  that  he 
was  come  of  age  and  understood  his  position,  he  claimed 
the  right  to  be  his  father's  heir  and  to  succeed  to  the 
earldom,  alleging  that  Matthew  was  not  an  O'Neill 
at  all.  The  father,  repenting  his  preference  for 
Matthew,  now  took  Shane's  part ;  whereupon  the  autho- 
rities, who  were  of  course  on  the  side  of  Matthew, 
allui'ed  Earl  Conn  to  Dublin,  on  some  pretence  or  another, 
in  1551,  and  kept  him  there  a  captive.  Shane  was  in- 
stantly up  in  arms  to  avenge  his  father's  capture,  and 
to  maintain  what  he  believed  was  his  right  against 


CHAP.  XXXI.]       IlEBELLIOX  OF  SHANE  o'nEILL.  215 

Matthew  and  the  government :  and  so  commenced  a 
quarrel  that  cost  England  more  men  and  money  than 
any  single  struggle  they  had  yet  entered  upon  in 
Ireland. 

The  deputy,  Sir  James  Croft,  made  thi'ee  several 
attempts  during  1551  and  1552  to  reduce  him  to  sub- 
mission, and  failed  in  all.  The  fii'st  was  an  expedition 
by  sea  against  the  Mac  Donnells  of  Eathlin,  Shane's 
allies:  but  they  unexpectedly  fell  on  his  army,  of 
whom,  we  are  told,  only  one  man  escaped  alive.  The 
next  year  Croft  marched  north,  and  was 
A.D.  15S3  joined  by  Matthew  :  but  both  were  routed 
by  the  young  rebel  chief  and  his  ad- 
herents. He  made  the  third  attempt  in  the  autumn 
of  the  same  year,  but  the  only  injury  he  was  able  to 
inflict  was  to  destroy  the  poor  people's  crops  over 
a  large  stretch  of  country.  These  hostilities  went 
on  till  a  great  part  of  Ulster  was  wasted:  but  still 
O'Neill  showed  not  the  least  disposition  to  yield.  On 
the  contrary,  the  authorities  complain  that  when  they 
went  to  "parle"  with  him  (in  1553)  they  "found 
nothing  in  Shane  but  pride  and  stubbornness."  At  last 
they  thought  it  as  well  to  let  him  alone,  and  for  the 
next  five  or  six  years  no  serious  attempt  was  made  to 
reduce  him. 

In   the  year  of  Queen   Elizabeth's  accession,    some 
of  his  people  killed  his  rival,  Matthew  the  baron  of 
Dungannon,  in  a  night  attack,  so  unfaii'ly 
A.D.  1558     that  it  almost  deserved  the  name  of  assas- 
sination ;  but  Shane  himself  was  not  pre- 
sent.    In  the  following  year  the  earl  his  father  died  in 
Dublin,  and  Shane  was  elected  "The  O'iS'eill"  in  accor- 
dance with  the  ancient  Irish  custom ;  but  this  was  in 
open  defiance  of  English  law  (p.  210),  according  to  which 


216  A  child's  history  of  IRELAND.     [cHAP.   XXXI. 

Mattlicw's  eldest  son  should  succeed  to  title  and  lands. 
These  movements  of  the  great  chief  gave  the  government 
much  uneasiness;  and  in  1560  they  raised  up  rivals  all 
around  him,  who  were  dii-ected  to  attack  him  simul- 
taneously at  various  points :  hut  he  quickly  defeated 
them  separately,  before  they  had  time  to  combine.  In 
I06I  the  lord  deputy — the  earl  of  Sussex — marched 
north  against  him  ;  but  Shane  defeated  him ;  and  soon 
afterwards  he  made  himself  master  of  all  Ulster,  in- 
cluding Tirconnell,  the  temtory  of  the  old  rivals  of 
his  family,  the  O'Donnells.  At  last  Sussex — as  he 
tells  us  himself  in  one  of  his  letters — tried  to  have 
him  assassinated,  but  failed,  because  the  fellow  he 
employed  got  afraid  and  backed  out  of  the  business. 


mtior\ei\ 


Sigfnalure  of  Shane  O'Neill  in  1561.  "Misi  O'Neill."  Mist,  pronounced 
Mish'e,  two  syllables.  "  Mise  O'Neill  "  means  Myself  O'Neill.  This  form 
of  signature  was  often  used  by  Irish  chiefs.  From  Gilbert's  "  Fac-Sim. 
Nat.  MSS." 

Eut  now  the  queen  adopted  a  pacific  method:  she 
invited  him  to  London.  He  went  there  in  December 
1561,  much  against  the  wishes  of  Sussex,  who  suggested 
that  he  should  be  treated  coldly.  But  this  spiteful 
recommendation  was  disregarded,  and  the  queen  re- 
ceived him  very  graciously.  The  redoubtable  chief  and 
his  retainers,  all  in  their  strange  native  attire,  were 
viewed  with  curiosity  and  wonder.  He  strode  thi-ough 
the  coui't  to  the  royal  presence,  as  Camden  tells  us, 
between  two  lines  of  wondering  courtiers ;  and  behind 
him  marched  his  galloglasses,  their  heads  bare,  theii- 
long  hair  curling  down  on  theii'  shoulders  and  clipped 
short  in  front  just  above  the  eyes.  They  wore  a  loose 
wide-sleeved  safPron-dyed  tunic,  and  over  this  a  short 


CHAP.  XXXI.]       EEBELLION  OF  SHANE  o'nEILL.  21 

shaggy  mantle  flung  across  the  shoulders.  On  the  6th  of 
January  1562,  he  made  formal  submission  to  the  queen, 
in  presence  of  the  court  and  the  foreign  ambassadors. 

If  the  London  authorities  had  acted  straight,  O'^N'eill 
would  probably  have  retui-ned  loyally  disjx  sed,  and  all 
might  have  been  well :  but  they  adopted  a  different 
course,  and  the  natui-al  result  followed.  They  laid  a 
cunning  trap  for  him,  and  took  an  unfair  advantage  of 
his  presence,  while  he  was  in  theii'  power,  to  make  him 
sign  certain  severe  conditions ;  but  though  he  signed 
them,  it  was  against  his  will,  and  it  would  seem  he  had 
no  intention  to  cany  them  out.  It  was  craft  against 
craft;  and  the  crooked  officials  in  London  met  their 
match.  Shane  managed  his  business  so  adi'oitly  with 
the  queen,  that  in  May  1562,  he  was  permitted  to 
return  to  Ulster,  with  the  queen's  pardon  in  his  pocket, 
all  his  expenses  having  been  paid  by  the  government. 

But  he  was  very  indignant  at  being  forced  to  sign 
conditions :  and  he  now  quite  disregarded  them  and 
renewed  the  war.  At  last  the  queen,  heartily  sick  of 
the  quan-el,  instructed  Sussex  to  end  it  by  reasonable 
concessions;  and  peace  was  signed  in  !N'ovember  1563, 
in  0'!N'eill's  house  at  Benburb,  on  tenns  much  to  his 
advantage.  Among  other  things,  it  was  agreed  to 
confinn  him  in  the  old  Irish  name  of  "The  O'KeiU," 
"until  Hie  queen  should  decorate  him  by  another 
honourable  name  "  :  meaning  no  doubt  to  make  him  an 
earl.     After  this,  things  were  quiet  for  some  time. 

There  were  at  this  time  in  Antrim  great  numbers  of 
Scottish  settlers  fi'om  the  western  coasts  and  islands  of 
Scotland,  of  whom  the  most  distinguished  were  the 
Mac Donnells— the  "Lords  of  the  Isles."  They  were 
gi-eatly  feared  and  disliked  by  the  government,  who 
made  many  unsuccessful  attempts  to  expel  them.     One 


218  A  CniLp's  HISTOKY  OF  IRELAND.     [cHAP.   XXXT. 

of  the  conditions  that  Sliano  had  to  sign  in  London 
bound  him  to  make  war  on  these  Scots  and  reduce  them 
to  obedience.  AVhether  it  was  that  lie  wished  to  carry 
out  this  condition,   or  what  is  more   likely,  that   he 

himself  di'eaded  the  Scots  as  neighboui's, 
A.D.  1565    he  attacked  and  defeated  them  at  Glen- 

shesk,  near  Ballycastle  in  Antrim,  where 
700  of  them  were  killed.  The  news  of  this  victory 
at  first  gave  great  joy  to  the  English ;  but  seeing 
how  much  it  increased  his  power,  their  joy  soon 
tui'ned  to  jealousy  and  fear;  and  they  sent  two  com- 
missioners to  have  an  interview  with  him ;  to  whom 
he  gave  very  little  satisfaction.  He  said  to  them, 
among  many  other  things : — "  For  the  queen,  I  confess 
she  is  my  sovereign  :  but  I  never  made  peace  with  her 
but  at  her  own  seeking.  My  ancestors  were  kings  of 
Ulster,  and  Ulster  is  mine,  and  shall  be  mine.  O'Donnell 
shall  never  come  into  his  country  [Tirconnell],  nor 
Bagenall  into  IN'ewry,  nor  Kildare  into  Dundiaim  or 
Lecale.  They  are  now  mine.  With  the  sword  I  won 
them ;  with  this  sword  I  will  keep  them." 

Eut  this  career  of  triumph  came  at  last  to  an  end. 
The  defeat  that  finally  crushed  the  great  chief  was 
inflicted,  not  by  the  government,  but  by  the  O'Donnells. 
Hugh  O'Donnell,  chief  of  Tirconnell,  made  a  plundering 
excm*sion  into  Tvrone,  Shane's  temtory,  Shane  re- 
taliated by  crossing  the  Swilly  into  Tii'connell ;  but  he 
was  met  by  O'Donnell  at  the  other  side  and  utterly 
routed ;  and  he  barely  escaped  with  his  life  by  crossing 
a  ford  two  miles  higher  up  the  river.  This  action,  in 
which  1300  of  his  men  perished,  utterly  ruined  him.  He 
lost  all  heart,  and  now  formed  the  insane  resolution  of 
placing  himself  at  the  mercy  of  the  Scots,  whose  undying 
enmity  he  had  earned  by  the  defeat  at  Glenshesk  two 


:hap.  xxxri,]    the  gee aldine  rebellion.  219 

years  before.      He  came  to  their  camp  at  Cushendun 
^th  only  fifty  followers,  trusting  to  theii'  generosity. 

They  received  him  with  a  show  of  cor- 
A.D.  1567    diality ;  but  in  the  midst  of  the  festivities 

they  raised  a  dispute,  which  obviously  had 
been  prearranged,  and  suddenly  seizing  their  arms, 
they  massacred  the  chief  and  all  his  followers. 

O'jN'eiirs  rebellion  cost  the  government  a  sum  nearly 
equal  to  two  millions  of  our  present  money,  besides  the 
cesses  laid  on  the  countiy  and  the  damages  sustained 
by  the  subjects.  At  the  time  of  his  death  he  was 
only  about  forty  years  of  age.  We  are  told  by  several 
English  historians  of  the  time  that  he  governed  his 
principality  with  great  strictness  and  justice. 


CHAPTER  XXXII. 

THE      GERALDIXE      EEBELLIOX.      ^  _" 
A.D.  1565-1583. -Elizabeth. 

ERHAPS  at  no  time  since  the  Invasion 
did  the  dissensions  of  the  great  Anglo - 
Irish  lords  bring  more  misery  to  the 
general  body  of  the  people  than  at 
the  present  period.  The  Fitzgeralds 
and  the  Butlers  were  pei-petually  at 
war,  with  no  authority  to  quell  them. 
The  earl  of  Desmond,  head  of  the 
southern  Geraldines,  was  a  Catholic,  and  took  the 
Irish  side ;  the  earl  of  Ormond,  leader  of  the  Butlers, 
had  eonformed  to  the  Protestant  faith,  and  had  takeo 


220  A  child's  htstort  of  Ireland,    [chap.  xxxn. 

the  side  of  the  English  all  along.  By  the  tyranny 
and  oppression  of  these  two  earls,  as  well  as  by  their 
never-ending  disputes,  large  districts  in  the  south  were 
devastated,  and  almost  depopulated.  At  the  same  time 
Connaught  was  in  a  state  almost  as  bad,  by  the  broils 
of  the  earl  of  Clanrickard  and  his  sons  with  each  other, 
and  with  the  chiefs  all  round. 

At  last  the  deputy,  Sir  Hemy  Sydney,  set  out  on  a 

joui'ney  thi'ough  Connaught  and  Munster  to  make  peace ; 

and  having  witnessed  the  miseries  of  the 

A.D.  1567  country,  he  treated  those  he  considered 
delinquents  with  excessive  and  merciless 
severity,  hanging  and  imprisoning  great  numbers. 
He  brought  Desmond  a  prisoner  to  Dublin,  leaving 
his  brother  John  Fitzgerald,  or  John  of  Desmond  as 
he  is  called,  to  govern  South  Munster  in  the  earl's 
absence.  Sydney  describes  what  he  saw,  and  the  wonder 
is  that  things  could  have  been  permitted  to  come  to 
such  a  pass  in  any  civilised  land.  The  farther  south 
he  went  the  worse  he  found  the  country.  Speaking  of 
the  districts  of  Desmond  and  Thomond,  he  states  that 
whole  tracts,  once  cultivated,  lay  waste  and  uninhabited : 
the  ruins  of  bui'ned  towns,  villages,  and  chui'ches 
everywhere  :  "And  there  heard  I  the  lamentable  cries 
and  doleful  complaints  made  by  that  remnant  of  poor 
people  which  are  yet  left,  hardly  escaping  sword  and 
lire,  or  the  famine  which  their  tyi^annical  lords  have 
driven  them  unto,  either  by  taking  their  goods  fi'om 
them  or  by  spending  the  same  by  taking  coyne  and 
livery.  Yea,  the  view  of  the  bones  and  skulls  of  dead 
subjects,  who  partly  by  mui'der,  partly  by  famine,  have 
died  in  the  fields,  as  in  truth  hardly  any  Chi^istian  with 
dry  eyes  could  behold." 

After  the  aiTest  of  the  earl  of  Desmond,  his  brother 


CHAP.  XXXU.J      THE  GEKALDINE  KEBlCLLIOif.  221 

John  continued  to  govern  Soutli  Mnnster,  and  was  well 
affected   towards  the  government.     But  at  Ormond's 

instigation  he  was  seized  without  any 
A.D.  1567    cause,  and  he  and  the  earl  were  sent  to 

London  and  consigned  to  the  Tower, 
where  they  were  detained  for  six  years.  All  this  was 
done  without  the  knowledge  of  Sydney,  who  afterwards 
quite  disapproved  of  it ;  and  it  made  great  mischief, 
for  it  was  one  of  the  causes  of  the  rebellion,  and  it 
changed  John  Fitzgerald  from  a  loyal  man  to  a  bitter 
rebel. 


<^'^^c>Hk.piA^an.\ 


^o— 


Signature  (in  1574)  of  Garrett  Fitz  Gerald,  earl  of  Desmond  :  "Gerot  Desmond. 
From  GUbert's  "Fac-Sim.  Nat.  MSS." 


About  this  time  or  a  little  pre\dously,  the  English 
government  had  some  intention  to  colonise  a  large  part 
of  Ireland :  and  although  they  tried  to  keep  the  matter 
secret,  it  leaked  out,  and  alarming  rumoui^s  went  among 
the  chiefs  and  people,  both  native  and  Anglo-Irish. 
Another  disquieting  circumstance  was  that  the  Irish 
government  in  Dublin  had  been  taking  active  steps  to 
force  the  EefoiTaation  among  Catholics.  At  last  matters 
were  brought  to  a  crisis  by  the  arrest  of  the  earl  of 
Desmond  and  John  Fitzgerald.  James  Fitzmaurice 
Fitzgerald,  the  earl's  first  cousin,  now  went  among  the 
southern  chiefs,  and  induced  them  all,  both  native  Irish 
and  Anglo-Irish,  to  unite  in  defence  of  their  religion 
and  their  lands :  and  thus  was  formed  the  Second 
Geraldine  League  (p.  205).  Thus  also  arose  the 
Geraldine  rebellion. 

When  Sydney  heard  of  these  alarming  proceedings 


^22  A  guild's  uisTouY  OF  iup:land.     [chap,  xxxii. 

he  made  aiiotlier  journey  soutli  with  his  araiy,  in  1569, 
during  which  he  and  his  officers  acted  with  gi-eat 
severity.  This  circuit  of  Sydney's  went  a  good  way 
to  break  up  the  confederacy ;  many  of  the  leaders  were 

terrified  into  submission ;  and  at  length, 
A.D.  1573    after  a  hopeless  struggle,  Titzmaurice  was 

forced  to  submit.  On  this,  as  the  rebel- 
lion was  considered  at  an  end,  the  earl  and  his  brother 
were  released,  and  retiu^ned  home. 

Fitzmaurice  fled  to  France  after  his  submission,  and 
for  about  six  years  there  was  quietness ;  but  at  the  end 
of  that  tijne  he  returned  with  three  ships,  which  he  had 

procured  in  Spain,  accompanied  by  about 
A.D.  1579    eighty  Spaniards,  and  landed  in  Keny, 

where  he  was  joined  by  Desmond's  bro- 
thers, John  and  James  Fitzgerald.  Immediately  the 
lord  justice  sent  Sir  Heniy  Davells  and  Arthur  Carter 
to  the  earl  of  Desmond,  directing  him  to  attack  the 
Spaniards ;  but  as  they  were  returning,  John  Fitzgerald 
forced  his  way  at  night  into  their  inn  in  Tralee  and 
murdered  them  both  in  their  beds,  a  crime  calculated 
to  bring  discredit  and  ruin  on  any  cause.  The  little 
invading  force  was  soon  scattered,  and  Fitzmaui'ice 
was  killed  in  a  skii-mish;  on  which  John  Fitzgerald 
took  command  of  the  Munster  insui'gents.  The  earl 
of  Desmond  had  hitherto  held  aloof ;  but  the  studied 
ill-grained  harshness  of  the  lord  justice.  Sir  William 
Pelham,  at  last  forced  him  to  join  the  rebellion ;  at 
which  the  queen  was  much  displeased. 

The  frightful  civil  war  broke  out  now  more  ruth- 
lessly than  before,  and  brought  the  country  to  such  a 
state  as  had  never  yet  been  witnessed.  Several  hostile 
bands  belonging  to  both  sides  traversed  the  countiy  for 
months,  destroying  everything  and  wreaking  vengeance 


CHAP.  XXXII.]      THE  GERALDINE  REBELLION.  223 

on  the  weak  and  defenceless,  but  never  meeting,  or 
trying  to  meet,  in  battle.  At  Christmas,  1579,  Des- 
mond utterly  ruined  the  rich  and  prosperous  town  of 
Youghal,  which  belonged  to  the  party  of  his  opponents, 
leaving  not  even  one  house  fit  to  live  in;  but  in  his 
marches  thi'ough  those  parts  of  the  country  belonging 
to  the  English  he  did  not  kill  the  inhabitants.  !N'ot 
so  with  the  government  commanders,  Pelham  and  Or- 
mond  :  they  carried  fire  and  sword  through  the  countiy  ; 
and  Pelham  himself  tells  us  that  every  day,  in  their 
marches,  they  hunted  the  peasantry  fleeing  with  their 
families  thi'ough  the  woods,  and  killed  them  by  hun- 
di'eds.  Por  the  rebels  it  was  a  losing  game  all  through. 
James  Pitzgerald  was  captured  and  executed :  and  a 
little  later  on,  his  brother  John  was  intercepted  and 
killed. 

AATiile  Pelham  and  Ormond  still  continued  to  tra- 
verse Munster,  burning,  destroying,  and  slaying,  from 
Limerick  to  the  remote  extremities  of  the  Kerry  penin- 
sulas, the  insurrection  suddenly  blazed  up  in  Leinster. 
About  two  years  before  this.  Sir  Hemy  Sydney,  the 
lord  deputy,  had  excited  great  discontent  and  violent 
commotion  among  the  loyalist  people  of  the  Pale,  by  im- 
posing on  them  an  oppressive  tax  without  consulting  the 
Irish  parliament,  a  proceeding  which  was  quite  illegal ; 
and  partly  for  this  reason,  and  partly  on  account  of  the 
measui'es  taken  by  government  to  force  the  Reforma- 
tion, one  of  the  princij^al  men  among  them,  James 
Eustace,  Viscount  Baltinglass,  and  his  people,  rose  up 
in  open  rebellion.  Just  at  this  time,  Lord  Grey  of 
Wilton  was  appointed  lord  justice ;  and  no  sooner  had 
he  landed  in  Lublin  than  he  marched  into  "\Yicklow  to 
put  down  this  new  rebellion.  But  he  was  a  bad 
general,  and  incautiously  led  his  army  in  pursuit  oi. 


^24  A  child's  history  of  IHELAND.      [cHAI'.  XXXII. 

the  rebel  forces  into  the  wooded  and  dangerous  defile 

of   Glenmidure,  where  he  was  suddenly 

A.D.  1580    attacked  by  viscount  Baltinglass  and  by 

the  great  Wicklow  chief,  Fiach  Mac  Hugh 

O'Ep'ne ;  and  his  army  was  almost  annihilated. 


Glenmalure  :  from  "  Cromwell's  Tours."    Drawn  by  Petrie. 

The  insui^gents  had  long  expected  aid  from  the  Con- 
tinent, and  a  small  force  at  length  arrived :  700 
Spaniards  and  Italians  landed  about  the  1st  October 
1580,  from  foui'  vessels  at  Smerwick  in  Keny.  They 
took  possession  of  an  old  fort  beside  the  sea,  called 
Dunanore,  and  proceeded  to  fortify  it.  After  about  six 
weeks  spent  in  collecting  forces,  Lord  Grey,  bm-ning  with 
rage  after  his  defeat  at  Glenmalui'e,  laid  siege  to  the 
fort,  and  battered  it  with  cannon  till  the  gamson  was 
forced  to  surrender.  The  Irish  authorities  assert  that 
they  had  promise  of  their  lives  :  the  English  say  they 
surrendered  at  discretion.  At  any  rate,  as  soon  as  they 
had    delivered   up   their  arms,   Grey   had   the  whole 


CHAP.  XXXII.  J      THE  GERALDIXE  EEBELLION.  225 

garrison  massacred.     This  deed  of  hoiTor  caused  great 

indignatiou  all  over  England  as  well  as  on  the  Continent, 

and  brought  upon  Grey  the  displeasure  of  the  queen. 

During  the  next  year,  he  and  his  officers 

A.D.  1581  carried  on  the  war  with  relentless  bar- 
barity; till  at  length  it  began  to  be  felt 
that  instead  of  quieting  the  country  he  was  rather 
fanning  rebellion.  The  queen  was  as  suited  that  his 
proceedings  had  left  in  Ireland  little  more  for  her 
majesty  to  reign  over  but  carcases  and  ashes  :  and  she 
recalled  him  in  1582. 

Things  had  come  to  a  hopeless  pass  with  the 
rebels.  And  now  the  great  earl  of  Desmond,  the 
master  of  almost  an  entii'e  province,  the  inheritor  of 
vast  estates,  and  the  owner  of  numerous  castles,  was 
become  a  homeless  outlaw  with  a  price  on  his  head, 
dogged  by  spies  everywhere,  and  hunted  from  one 
hiding  place  to  another.  Through  all  his  weary  wander- 
ings he  was  accompanied  by  his  faithful  wife,  who 
never  left  him,  except  a  few  times  when  she  went  to 
intercede  for  him.  On  one  of  these  occasions  she  sought 
an  interview  with  Pelham  himielf,  and  on  her  knees 
implored  mercy  for  her  husband ;  but  her  tears  and 
entreaties  were  all  in  vain.  Once  in  the  depth  of  winter 
a  plan  was  laid  to  capture  him.  The  soldiers  led  by 
the  spy  had  actually  arrived  by  night  at  the  hut  where 
he  was  hiding,  when  he  heard  the  noise  of  footsteps, 
and  he  and  the  countess  rushed  out  in  the  darkness, 
and  plunging  into  the  river  that  flowed  close  by,  con- 
cealed themselves  under  a  bank,  with  only  theii'  heads 
over  the  water,  till  the  party  had  left.  Another  time, 
he  and  his  company  of  sixty  galloglasses  were  sui-prised 
in  the  glen  of  Aherlow  while  cooking  part  of  a  horse 
for  their  dinner.  Many  of  the  galloglasses  were  killed 
Q 


226  A  child's  niSTOEY  OF  lilELAND.        [CHAP.  XXXII. 

while  defending  their  master:  twenty  were  captured 
and  executed  on  the  spot,    and  the  others,  with  the 

earl  and   countess,   escaped.     He  was  at 
A.D.  1583    length  taken  and  killed  by  some  soldiers 

and  peasants  in  Kerry,  which  ended  the 
great  Geraldine  rebellion. 

The  war  had  made  Munster  a  desert.  In  the  words 
of  the  Four  Masters: — "The  lowing  of  a  cow  or  the 
Toice  of  a  ploughman  could  scarcely  be  heard  from  Dun- 
queen  in  the  west  of  Kerry  to  Cashel."  To  what  a 
frightful  pass  the  wi'etched  people  had  been  brought 
may  be  gathered  fi'om  Edmund  Spenser's  description  of 
what  he  witnessed  with  his  own  eyes: — "  IS'otwith- 
standing  that  the  same  [province  of  Munster]  was  a 
most  rich  and  plentiful  countrey,  full  of  corne  and 
cattle,  yet  ere  one  yeare  and  a  halfe  the  people  were 
brought  to  such  wretchedness  as  that  any  stony  hart 
would  have  rued  the  same.  Out  of  every  corner  of  the 
woods  and  glynnes  they  came  creeping  forth  upon  their 
hands,  for  their  legges  could  not  beare  them,  and  if 
they  found  a  plot  of  watercresses  or  shamrocks  there 
they  flocked  as  to  a  feast  for  the  time :  that  in  short 
space  of  time  there  were  almost  no  people  left,  and  a 
most  populous  and  plentifull  country  suddainely  left 
voide  of  man  and  beast." 


m 


Sculpture  on  a  Capital  of  the  Church  of  the  Monastery,  Glendalough.     Beranger,  i;;; 
From  Petrie's  "  Round  Towers,"  258. 


CHAPTER  XXXIII. 


THE  PLANTATIONS. 


EFOEE  proceeding  fiuilier  mth  our  regular 
narrative,  it  is  necessary  that  we  here 
tui-n  "back  a  little  in  point  of  time,  in 
order  to  trace  the  history  of  the  Planta- 
tions, and  to  describe  what  they  were 
and  how  they  were  carried  out.  In  the 
time  of  Queen  Mary,  an  entire  change 
was  made  in  the  mode  of  dealing  with 
Irish  territories  whose  chiefs  had  been  subdued. 
Hitherto  whenever  the  government  deposed  or  banished 
a  troublesome  Irish  chief,  they  contented  themselves 
with  putting  in  his  place  another,  commonly  English 
or  Anglo-Irish,  more  likely  to  be  submissive,  while  the 
general  body  of  occupiers  remained  undistui'bed.  But 
now  when  a  rebellious  chief  was  reduced,  the  lands, 
not  merely  those  in  his  own  possession,  but  also  those 
belonging  to  the  whole  of  the  people  over  whom  he 
ruled,  were  confiscated,  that  is,  seized  by  the  crown, 
and  given  to  English  adventurers  —  undertakers  as 
they  were  commonly  called.  These  men  got  the  lands 
on  condition  that  they  should  biing  over,  and  plant  on 
them,  a  number  of  English  or  Scotch  settlers;  for 
whom  it  was  of  course  necessary  to  clear  off  the  native 
^2 


228  A  IIIILd's  niSTOKY  OF  lUELANI).      [cUAP.  XXXIII. 

population.  What  became  of  the  doomed  people  no  one 
cared.  Some  went  away  quietly  and  faced  hardship 
aud  want.  But  others  refused  to  give  up  their  homes, 
and  then  there  was  fighting  and  bloodshed,  as  will  be 
seen  as  we  go  along. 

Oiu'  fii'st  example  of  this  kind  of  colonisation  occuiTed 
in  Leix  and  Offaly,  from  which  their  two  chiefs  O'Moore 
and  O'Conor  had  been  banished  in  1547,  immediately 
after  the  death  of  King  Henry.  These  two  districts  were, 
in  the  fii'st  instance,  not  exactly  taken  possession  of  by  the 
crown,  but  given  directly  to  an  EngKshman  named 
Francis  Bryan  and  to  some  others,  who  proceeded 
straightway  to  expel  the  native  people  and  parcel  out 
the  lands  to  new  tenants,  chiefly  English.  But  the  poor 
people  clung  to  their  homes  and  struggled  hard  to  retain 
them.  The  fighting  went  on  dui^ing  the  whole  of  the 
reign  of  Edward  YI.  with  great  loss  of  life  to  both  sides ; 
and  the  settlement,  exposed  to  the  constant  vengeful 
attacks  of  those  who  had  been  dispossessed,  decayed  year 
by  year. 

As  this  attempt  at  plantation  did  not  succeed,  the 
whole  district  was  taken  possession  of  by  the  crown  in 
the  reign  of  Queen  Mary,  and  replanted.  The  natives 
still  resisted ;  but  they  had  now  the  full  strength  of  the 
government  forces  to  contend  with ;  and  a  pitiless  war 
of  extermination  went  on  for  many  years,  till  the  original 
owners  and  peasantry  were  as  a  body  almost  completely 
banished  or  extirpated.  But  this  settlement  never  suc- 
ceeded: and  the  natives  gradually  crept  back  till  in 
course  of  time  they  in  great  measui-e  absorbed  the 
settlers,  as  happened  in  older  times  (p.  162). 

After  the  death  of  Shane  O'JS'eill,  more  than  half  of 
Ulster  was  confiscated ;  and  the  attempt  to  clear  off  the 
old  natives  and  plant  new  settlers  was  commenced 


CHAP.  XXXni.]  THE  PLANTATIONS.  229 

without  delay.  In  1570  the  peninsula  of  Arclcs  in 
Down  was  granted  to  the  queen's  secretary  Sir  Thomas 
Smith,  who  sent  his  son  with  a  colony  to  take  possession. 
But  this  attempt  at  plantation  was  a  failure  too  ;  for  the 
owners,  the  O'j^eills  of  Clannaboy,  not  feeling  inclined 
to  part  with  their  homes  without  a  struggle,  attacked 
and  killed  the  young  undertaker  in  1573.  The  next 
undertaker  was  a  more  important  man,  Walter  Devereux 
earl  of  Essex.  In  1573  he  undertook  to  plant  the 
district  now  occupied  by  the  county  Antrim,  together 
with  the  island  of  Eathlin.  He  waged  savage  war  on 
the  natives,  killing  them  wherever  he  could  find  them, 
burning  their  corn  and  depopulating  the  country  to  the 
best  of  his  ability  by  sword  and  starvation.  He  treache- 
rously seized  young  O'Donnell  of  Tirconnell  and  Brian 
O'j^eill  chief  of  Clannaboy,  and  sent  them  prisoners  to 
Dublin,  having  fii'st  caused  two  hundred  of  O'j^eill's 
people  to  be  killed  at  a  banquet  to  which  he  had  in- 
vited them.  And  he  hunted  down  and  massacred  many 
hundreds  of  the  Scots  of  Clannaboy  and  of  Eathlin 
Island,  all  without  distinction,  men,  women,  and 
children,  to  gain  possession  of  their  lands.  Yet  after 
all  this  fearful  work,  he  failed  in  the  end  and  re- 
turned to  Dublin,  where  he  died. 

On  the  suppression  of  the  Geraldine  rebellion,  the 
vast  estates  of   the   earl   of    Desmond,    and   those   of 
140  of  the  leading  gentlemen  of  Munster, 
A.D.  1585    his  adherents,  were  confiscated  by  a  par- 
liament held  in  Dublin.     In  the  follow- 
ing year  proclamation  was  made  all  through  England, 
inviting    gentlemen    to    "undertake"   the   plantation 
of  this  great  and  rich  territory.     Estates  were  offered 
at   two  pence   or   three   pence  an  acre,   and  no  rent 
at  all  was  to  be  paid  for  the  first  five  years.     Every 


230 


child's  niSTORY  OF  IRELAND.      [cilAl*.  XXXJII, 


undertaker  wlio  took  12,000  acres  was  to  settle  eighty- 
six  English  families  as  tenants  on  his  property,  but  no 
Irish;  and  so  in  pro2)ortion  for  smaller  estates  down  to 
4000  acres. 

Many  of  the  gi-eat  undertakers  were  absentees: 
English  noblemen  who  never  saw  Ireland.  Of  those 
who  came  over  to  settle  down  on  their  estates,  two  are 
well  known.  Sir  AYalter  Raleigh  got  42,000  acres  in 
Cork  and  Waterford,   and  resided  in  Youghal,  where 


Raleigh's  House.     From  "Kilkenny  Archaeological  Journal,"  1856-7. 

his  house  is  still  to  be  seen.  Edmund  Spenser  the 
poet  received  12,000  acres  in  Cork,  and  took  up  his 
residence  in  one  of  Desmond's  strongholds,  Kilcolman 
Castle,  the  ruin  of  which,  near  Buttevant,  is  still  an 
object  of  interest  to  visitors. 

In  the  most  important  particulars,  however,  this 
great  scheme  turned  out  a  failure.  The  English 
farmers  and  artisans  did  not  come  over  in  sufficient 
numbers ;  and  the  undertakers  received  the  native  Irish 


CHAP.  XXXIII.]  THE  PLANTATIONS.  231 

everywhere  as  tenants,  in  violation  of  the  conditions. 
Some  English  came  over  indeed;  bnt  they  were  so 
harassed  and  frightened  by  the  continual  onslaughts  of 
the  dispossessed  proprietors  and  tenants,  that  many  of 
them  retui^ned  to  England.  And  lastly,  more  than  half 
the   confiscated  estates  remained  in  possession  of  the 


^immmmm'mm 


Kilcolman  Castle.    From  "  Cork  Historical  and  Archaeological  Society's  Journal. 

original  owners,  as  no  others  could  be  found  to  take 
them.  So  the  only  result  of  this  plantation  was  to 
root  out  a  large  proportion  of  the  old  gentry,  and  to 
emich  a  few  undertakers. 

There  were  many  other  Plantations  during  these  times 
and  subsequently,  some  of  which  will  be  described 
farther  on;  but  all  of  them  resembled,  in  their  main 
features,  those  sketched  here.  From  beginning  to  end 
they  were  the  cause  of  frightful  bloodshed  and  misery 
to  both  natives  and  settlers ;  and  they  left  to  posterity 
a  disastrous  legacy  of  hatred  and  strife. 


m 


"®  enMl^rfi^  J^^^^ffl^'^^Sig) 


Ornament,  with  Inscription,  on  the  cover  of  the  "  Misach,"  an  ancient  reliquary  belonging 
to  Inishowen.    From  Miss  Stokes's  *'  Christian  Inscriptions,"  ii.  102. 


CHAPTER  XXXIY. 


HUGH       EOE       0     DONNELL. 
A.D.  1584-1592— Elizabeth. 

\iE  JoHx  Peeeott,  a  brave  bluff  old  soldier, 
was  lord  deputy  from  1584  to  1588.  He 
treated  the  Irish  with  some  consideration, 
much  against  the  wishes  of  his  Dublin 
council,  many  of  whom  were  his  bitter 
enemies.  Yet  his  action  was  not  always 
straight,  as  the  following  naiTative  will 
show.  Fearing  hostilities  with  Spain, 
where  the  Annada  was  at  this  time  in  preparation,  he 
had  already  secured  hostages  from  many  of  the  Irish 
chiefs,  but  none  fi'om  the  O'Donnells  whom  he  feared 
most  of  all.  In  this  strait  he  bethought  him  of  a 
treacherous  plan  to  seize  either  Sir  Hugh  O'Donnell  or 
his  son  and  heir. 

Sir  Hugh  O'Donnell  chief  of  Tii'connell  had  a  son 
Hugh,  commonly  known  as  Hugh  Eoe  (the  Red),  who 
was  bom  in  1572,  and  who  was  now — 1587 — in  his 
fifteenth  year.  Even  already  at  that  early  age,  he  was 
remarked  for  his  great  abilities  and  for  his  aspiring  and 
ambitious  disposition.  "  The  fame  and  renown  of  the 
above-named  youth,  Hugh  Roe,"  say  the  Foui' Masters, 
"  had  spread  throughout  the  five  provinces  of  Ireland 
even  before  he  had  come  to  the  age  of  manhood,  for  his 


CHAP.  XXXIV.]  HUGH  ROE  o'dONNELL.  233 

wisdom,  sagacity,  goodly  growth,  and  noble  deeds  ;  and 
the  English  feared  that  if  he  should  be  permitted  to 
arrive  at  the  age  of  manhood,  he  and  the  earl  of  Tyi'one 
[Hugh  0']*^eill  his  brother-in-law]  might  combine  and 
conquer  the  whole  island." 

Perrott's  plan  for  entrapping  young  Eed  Hugh  was 
skilfully  concocted  and  well  carried  out.  In  the 
autumn  of  1587  he  sent  a  merchant  vessel  laden  with 
Spanish  wines  to  the  coast  of  Donegal  on  pretence  of 
traffic.  The  captain  entered  Lough  Swilly  and  anchored 
opposite  the  castle  of  Eathmullan,  where  the  boy  lived 
with  his  foster-father  Mac  Sweeny.  When  Mac 
Sweeny  heard  of  the  arrival  of  the  ship,  he  sent  to 
purchase  some  wine.  The  messengers  were  told  that 
no  moi'e  was  left  to  sell ;  but  that  if  any  gentlemen 
wished  to  come  on  board  they  were  quite  welcome  to 
drink  as  much  as  they  pleased.  The  bait  took.  A 
party  of  the  Mac  Sweenys,  accompanied  by  Hugh,  un- 
suspectingly went  on  board.  The  captain  had  previously 
call^  in  all  his  men;  and  while  the  company  were 
enjoying  themselves,  their  amis  were  quietly  removed, 
the  hatchway  door  was  closed  down,  and  the  ship 
weighed  anchor.  "VYhen  the  people  on  shore  observed 
this,  they  were  filled  with  consternation,  and  flocked  to 
the  beach  ;  but  they  were  quite  helpless,  for  they  had 
no  boats  ready.  jS'either  was  it  of  any  avail  when  Mac 
Sweeny  rushed  to  the  point  of  shore  nearest  the  ship, 
and  cried  out  in  the  anguish  of  his  heart,  offering  any 
amount  of  ransom  and  hostages.  Young  Hugh  O'Don- 
nell  was  brought  to  Dublin,  and  safely  lodged  in  the 
Castle. 

This  dishonourable  and  unwise  transaction,  however, 
so  far  from  tending  to  peace,  as  Perrott  no  doubt 
intended,  did  the  very  reverse.     It  made  bitter  enemies 


2o4  A  CIIILd's  itlSTORY  OP  IlllOLANl).      [cilAl'.  X.XXIV. 

of  the  O'Donnells,  who  had  been  hitherto  for  genera- 
tions on  the  side  of  the  government.  In  young  O'Don- 
nell  himself  more  especially,  it  engendered  lifelong 
feelings  of  exasperation  and  hatred ;  and  it  was  one  of 
the  causes  of  the  O'jSTeill  rebellion,  which  brought 
unmeasured  woe  and  disaster  to  both  English  and 
Irish. 

Three  years  and  three  months  passed  away :  Perrott 
had  been  recalled,  and  Sir  William  Fitzwilliam  was  now 
lord  deputy;  when  O'Donnell,  in  concert  with  some  of  his 
fellow-prisoners,  made  an  attempt  to  escape.  Round  the 
castle  there  was  a  deep  ditch  filled  with  water,  across 

which  was  a  wooden  foot-bridge  opposite 
A.D.  1590   the  door  of  the  fortress.      Early  one  dark 

winter's  evening,  before  the  guard  had 
been  set,  they  let  themselves  down  on  the  bridge  by  a 
long  rope,  and  immediately  fastened  the  door  on  the 
outside.  They  were  met  on  the  bridge  by  a  young  man 
of  Hugh's  people  with  two  swords,  one  of  which  Hugh 
took,  the  other  was  given  to  Art  Kavanagh,  a  brave 
young  Leinster  chief  who  had  been  O'Donnell's  com- 
panion in  bondage.  They  made  their  way  noiselessly 
through  the  people  along  the  dimly  lighted  streets, 
guided  by  the  young  man,  while  Kavanagh  brought  up 
the  rear  with  sword  grasped  ready  in  case  of  interrup- 
tion. Passing  out  thi^ough  one  of  the  city  gates  which 
had  not  yet  been  closed  for  the  night,  they  crossed  the 
country  towards  the  hills,  avoiding  the  public  road,  and 
made  their  way  over  that  slope  of  the  Three  Rock 
Mountain  overlooking  Stillorgan  and  the  sea.  They 
pushed  on  till  far  in  the  night;  when  being  at  last 
quite  worn  out,  they  took  shelter  in  a  thick  wood, 
somewhere  near  the  present  village  of  Roundwood,  in 
Wicklow,    where   they    remained   hidden   during   the 


CHAP.  XXXIV.]  HUGH  KOE  o'dONNELL.  235 

remainder  of  the  night.  jS'ext  morning  O'Donnell  was 
so  fatigued  that  he  was  not  able  to  keep  up  with  his 
companions ;  for  the  thin  shoes  he  wore  had  fallen  in 
pieces  with  wet,  and  his  feet  were  torn  and  bleeding 
from  shai-p  stones  and  thorns.  So,  veiy  unwillingly, 
his  companions  left  him  in  a  wood  and  piu'sued  their 
joiu'ney,  all  but  one  servant  who  went  for  aid  to  Castle- 
kevin,  a  little  way  off,  near  the  mouth  of  Glendalough, 


Castlekevin  and  Glendalough.    From  "Cromwell's  Tours."    Drawn  by  Petrie. 

where  lived  Felim  0' Toole,  one  of  Hugh's  fiiends,  who 
at  once  took  steps  for  his  relief. 

Now  to  return  to  Dublin  Castle.  ]S"ot  long  after  the 
captives  had  left,  the  guards,  going  to  lock  them  up  in 
their  cells  for  the  night,  missed  them,  and  instantly 
raising  an  alarm,  rushed  to  the  door ;  but  finding  them- 
selves shut  in,  they  shouted  to  the  people  in  the  houses 


236  A  child's  niSTOKY  OF  IKKLANl).       [cUAP.  XXXlV. 

at  the  otlicr  side  of  the  street,  who  removed  the  fasten- 
ing of  the  door  and  released  them.  They  were  not  able 
to  overtake  the  fugitives,  who  had  too  much  of  a  start, 
but  they  traced  them  all  the  way  to  the  hiding-place. 
0' Toole  now  saw  that  his  friend  could  no  longer  be 
concealed,  for  the  soldiers  had  actually  surrounded  the 
wood;  and  making  a  virtue  of  necessity,  he  and  his 
people  arrested  him  and  brought  him  back  to  Dublin. 
The  council  were  delighted  at  his  captui-e  ;  and  for  the 
better  seciuity  in  the  future  they  shackled  him  and  his 
companions  in  the  prison  with  heavy  iron  fetters. 
Another  weaiy  year  passed  away.      On  Christmas 

night,  before  supper  time,  Hugh  and  his 
A.D.  1591    two  companions,  Heniy  and  Art  O'JS'eill, 

the  sons  of  the  great  rebel  Shane  O'I's'eill, 
who  were  also  in  the  prison,  cut  through  their  iron 
fetters  with  a  file  which  had  somehow  been  conveyed  to 
them,  and  let  themselves  down  on  the  bridge  by  a  long 
silken  rope  which  had  been  sent  in  with  the  file.* 
They  crept  through  the  common  sewer  of  the  castle, 
and,  making  their  way  across  the  ditch,  were  met  at 
the  other  side  by  a  guide  sent  by  Fiach  Mac  Hugh 
O'Eyrne  of  Glenmalure. 

They  glided  through  the  dim  streets,  as  in  their 
former  attempt  at  escape,  the  people  taking  no  notice  of 
them ;  and  passing  out  at  one  of  the  city  gates  which 
had  not  been  closed,  they  made  their  way  across  the 
country ;  but  in  this  part  of  their  course  they  lost 
Henry  O'iS'eill  in  the  darkness.  Greatly  distressed  at 
this,  they  still  pressed  on ;    but  they  found  it  hard  to 


*  There  is  good  reason  to  believe  that  the  deputy  Fitzwilliam, 
wlio  was  a  very  avaricious  man,  was  bribed  by  Hugh  O'Neill 
earl  of  Tyrone,  to  secretly  permit  O'Donnell  to  escape. 


CHAP.  XXXIV.]  HUGH  ROE  o'dOjN^NELL.  237 

travel  and  sufferecl  keenly  from  cold  ;  for  rain  and  sleet 
fell  thick,  and  they  had  thi'own  aside  their  soiled  outer 
mantles  after  leaving  the  castle.  They  crossed  the  hills, 
shaping  their  way  this  time,  it  would  appear,  more  to 
the  west,  up  by  Killakee  and  along  the  coui'se  of  the 
present  military  road. 

But  Art  O'jS'eill,  who  had  grown  corpulent  in  his 
prison  for  want  of  exercise,  was  unable  to  keep  pace 
with  the  others  :  and  Hugh  and  the  attendant  had  to 
help  him  on  at  intervals  by  walking  one  on  each  side, 
while  he  rested  his  arms  on  their  shoulders.  In  this 
manner  they  toiled  on  wearily  across  the  snowy  waste 
through  the  whole  of  that  Chiistmas  night  and  the 
whole  of  next  day,  without  food,  hoping  to  be  able  to 
reach  Glenmalure,  O'Byrne's  home,  without  a  halt. 
But  they  became  at  last  so  worn  out  with  fatigue  and 
hunger,  that  they  had  to  give  up  and  take  shelter  under 
a  high  rock,  while  the  servant  ran  on  to  O'Byi'ue's 
Castle  for  help.  Fiach  instantly  despatched  a  small 
party  with  a  supply  of  food,  but  found  the  two  young 
men  lying  under  the  rock  to  all  appearance  dead: — 
"Unhappy  and  miserable,"  wiite  the  Pour  Masters, 
"  was  the  condition  [of  the  young  chiefs]  on  theii* 
arrival.  Their  bodies  were  covered  over  with  white- 
bordered  shrouds  of  hailstones  freezing  around  them, 
and  their  light  clothes  and  fine-threaded  shirts  adhered 
to  their  skin,  and  their  large  shoes  and  leather  thongs 
to  their  legs  and  feet :  so  that  it  did  not  appear  to  the 
men  who  had  arrived  that  they  were  human  beings  at 
all,  but  like  masses  of  earth  covered  with  snow ;  and 
when  they  lifted  them  up,  they  found  scarce  any  life 
in  them." 

They  tried  to  make  the  unhappy  suJ^erers  take  food 
and   diink,    but   neither   food   nor   di'ink   could   they 


238  A  CIIIT.d's  niSTOKY  OF  IRELAND.       [cHAP.  XXX  IT. 

swallow ;  aiul  wliile  the  men  were  tenderly  nursing 
them,  Art  O'Neill  died  in  their  arms.  And  there  they 
buried  him  under  the  shadow  of  the  rock.  Hugh 
being  hardier,  however,  fared  better  :  after  some  time 
he  was  able  to  swallow  a  little  ale,  and  his  strength 
began  to  return.  But  his  feet  still  remained  frozen  and 
dead,  so  that  he  could  not  stand :  and  when  he  had 
sufficiently  recovered,  the  men  carried  him  on  their 
shoulders  to  Glenmalure.  Here  he  was  placed  in  a 
secluded  cottage,  where  he  remained  for  a  time  under 
cm-e,  till  a  young  chief  named  Tuiiogh  O'Hagan,  a 
trusty  messenger  from  Hugh  O'Neill  earl  of  Tyrone, 
came  for  him. 

Meantime,  the  council  hearing  that  O'Donnell  was 
in  Glenmalui'e  with  O'Byi-ne,  placed  guards  on  the 
fords  of  the  LiSey  to  prevent  him  fi'om  passing  north- 
wards to  Ulster.  Nevertheless,  as  O'Neill's  message 
was  urgent,  O'Donnell,  though  weak  and  su:ffering,  set 
out  with  the  messenger,  accompanied  by  a  troop  of 
horse  sent  by  0' Byrne  as  a  guard :  but  his  feet  were 
still  so  helpless  that  he  had  to  be  lifted  on  and  off 
his  horse.  They  crossed  the  Liffey  at  a  deep  and 
dangerous  ford  just  beside  Dublin,  which  had  been 
left  unguarded.  Here  O'Byi-ne's  escort  left  them ; 
and  from  Dublin  they  made  their  way  northwards, 
attended  by  Felim  0' Toole  and  his  brother,  who  had 
accompanied  the  party  fi^om  Glenmalui'e.  Having 
escorted  them  to  a  safe  distance  beyond  Dublin,  the 
O'Tooles  *'  bade  Hugh  farewell,  and  having  given 
him  their  blessing,  departed  fi'om  him." 

There  were  now  only  two,  O'Donnell  himself  and 
O'Hagan,  and  they  rode  on  till  they  reached  the  Boyne 
a  little  above  Drogheda :  here  they  crossed  in  a  boat, 
while  the  ferryman  brought  the  horses  round  by  the 


CHAP.  XXXIV.]  HUGH  EOE  o'dONNELL.  239 

town.  They  next  reached  Mellifont,  where  resided  a 
fi'iend,  Sir  Garrett  Moore,  a  young  Englishman,  with 
whom  they  remained  for  the  night ;  and  in  the  evening 
of  the  following  day  set  off  with  a  fresh  pair  of  horses. 

They  arrived  at  Dundalk  by  morning.  Having  been 
made  aware  that  all  the  ordinary  roads  and  passes  were 
guarded,  for  news  of  Hugh's  flight  had  reached  Dun- 
dalk from  Dublin,  they  took  the  bold  com-se  of  riding 
into  the  town,  passing  through  in  open  day  with- 
out attracting  any  notice  or  exciting  suspicion:  and 
they  next  reached  the  residence  of  Hugh  0';N"eiirs  half 
brother,  chief  of  the  Fews  in  Ai'magh.  Next  day  they 
came  to  the  city  of  Armagh,  where  they  remained  in 
concealment  for  one  night.  The  following  day  they 
reached  the  house  of  Earl  Hugh  O'Xeill  at  Dungannon, 
where  O'Donnell  rested  for  foui'  days ;  but  secretly,  for 
O'Neill  was  still  in  the  queen's  service  (see  page  241). 

The  earl  sent  him  with  a  troop  of  horse  as  an  escort 
to  Enniskillen  Castle,  the  residence  of  O'Donnell's 
cousin  Maguire  of  Fermanagh,  who  rowed  him  down 
Lough  Erne,  at  the  far  shore  of  which  he  was  met  by  a 
party  of  his  own  people.  With  these  he  arrived  at  his 
father's  castle  at  Ballyshannon,  where  he  was  welcomed 
with  unbounded  joy.  Here  he  remained  under  cure 
for  two  months.  The  physicians  had  at  last  to  ampu- 
tate his  two  great  toes ;  and  a  whole  year  passed  away 
before  he  had  fully  recovered  fi'om  the  effects  of  that 
one  terrible  winter  night  in  the  mountains. 

In  May  this  year,  1592,  a  general  meeting  of  the 
Kinel-Connell  was  convened ;  and  Sir  Hugh  O'Donnell, 
who  was  old  and  feeble,  ha\ang  resigned  the  chieftain- 
ship, young  Hugh  Roe — now  in  his  twentieth  year — 
was  elected  The  O'Donnell,  chief  of  his  race. 


Ornament  on  top  of  Dcvcnibh  Round  Tower.    From  Petrie's  "  Round  Towers,"  400. 


CHAPTER  XXXV. 


THE    REBELLION    OF    HUGH    0  NEILL. 
A.D.  1585-1597. -Elizabeth. 

baron  of  Dimgannon  had  two 
of  whom  the  younger,  Hugh 
O'^N^eill,  succeeded  to  the  title  when 
yery  young,  after  the  death  of  his 
father  and  brother.  He  was  born  about  1545  and 
was  educated  among  the  English,  his  father  having 
been,  always  on  the  side  of  the  government ;  and  he 
began  his  military  life  in  the  queen's  service  as  com- 
mander of  a  troop  of  horse.  He  is  described  by  the 
contemporary  English  historian  Moryson  as  "Of  a 
medium  stature  but  a  strong  body,  able  to  endure 
labours,  watching,  and  hard  fare,  being  withal  in- 
dustrious and  active,  valiant,  affable,  and  fit  to  manage 
great  affairs,  and  of  a  high,  dissembling,  subtile, 
and  profound  wit."  The  Irish  parliament  of  1585 
(see  page  229)  made  him  earl  of  Tyrone  in  succession  to 
his  (reputed)  grandfather.  Earl  Conn  O'ls^eill  (p.  214), 
but  they  had  no  power  to  give  him  the  land  inherit- 
ance, the  former  patrimony  of  the  O'Xeills ;  as  it  had 
been  confiscated  after  the  death  of  Shane  the  Proud. 
This,  however,  was  granted  to  him  by  the  queen,  on 
the  condition  that  he  should  give  up  240  acres  on  the 
Blackwater  as  a  site  for  a  fort.     This  fort  was  built 


CHAP.  XXXV.]      EEBELLION"  OF  HUGH  o'NEILL.  241 

soon  afterwards  and  called  Portmore ;  and  it  was  kept 
garrisoned  with  English  troops ;  for  it  was  considered 
very  important,  as  it  commanded  a  ford  on  the  river, 
which  was  the  usual  pass  from  Ai'magh  into  Tyrone, 
O'lSTeill's  territory.  The  site  of  the  fort  is  now  marked 
by  the  village  of  Blackwatertown. 

Kot  long  after  this,  the  earl  and  Mabel  Bagenal, 
sister  of  Sir  Heniy  Bagenal,  marshal  or  military  com- 
mander of  Ireland,  wished  to  be  married;  for  O'jS'eiirs 
first  wife,  Eed  Hugh  O'Donnell's  sister,  was  at  this 
time  dead.  But  Bagenal  bitterly  opposed  the  match, 
and  sent  the  lady  out  of  the  way,  to  the  house  of  his 
sister  in  Dublin,  whither  O'Neill  followed  her ;  and 
they  were  married  in  the  house  of  a  friend  at  Drum- 
condi'a.  The  marshal  fi'om  that  day  forth  was  O'T^eill's 
deadly  enemy;  and  he  kept  the  lady's  fortune,  £1000, 
(about  £12,000  of  our  money)  which  her  father  had 
left  her. 

In  1593  the  government  made  O'JN'eill  master  of  all 
Tp'one.  But  his  movements  were  now  considered  sus- 
picious, and  the  queen  and  government  were  greatly 
puzzled  how  to  deal  with  him ;  for  he  was  continually 
drilling  his  men  ;  and  he  brought  home  vast  quantities 
of  lead  to  roof  his  new  house  at  Dungannon,  which  it 
was  reported  was  not  intended  for  roofs  but  for  bullets. 
He  secui'ed  the  friendship  of  the  most  powerful  of  the 
Ulster  chiefs ;  and  we  have  seen  how  he  aided  young 
O'Donnell  to  escape  from  Dublin  castle,  a  matter  which 
was  very  well  known  to  the  authorities.  Still  he  was 
in  the  queen's  service,  and  in  this  same  year,  1593,  he 
fought  with  deputy  Fitzwilliam  against  O'Euarc,  who 
had  been  goaded  into  rebellion  by  the  sheriff  of 
Fennanagh.  In  1594  Fitzwilliam  took  Maguire's  castle 
at  Enniskillen.      But  Maguire  and  O'Donnell  besieged 


242  A  child's  history  op  Ireland,     [chap.  xxxv. 

it  immediately  after ;  and  wlien  the  deputy  sent  forces 
to  relieve  the  garrison,  they  were  intercepted  at  a  ford 
near  Enniskillen  by  Maguire  and  O'Neill's  brother 
Cormac,  and  defeated.      In  their  flight  they  abandoned 


Enniskillen  Castle  in  or  about  1600.    From  Speed's  Map  of  Ireland. 

all  the  provisions  intended  for  the  garrison  ;    so  that  the 

place  got  the  name  of  Bellanabriska,  the 

A.D.  1594  ford    of    the   biscuits ;    after   which    the 

gaxTison    at   Enniskillen   siu'rendered  the 

castle  to  Maguire,  who  sent  them  away  unharmed  and 

under   protection  to  a  place  of   safety.      But  no   one 

could    tell    whether  or   not    it    was    with    O'Neill's 

consent  his  brother  had  joined  Maguire. 

The   friendly   relations   between   the    earl   and   the 
srovernmcnt  raav  be  said  to  have  ended  with  the  close  of 


CHAP.  XXXV.]     REBELLION  OF  HTTGH  o'nEILL.  243 

the  year  1594.  Up  to  this  it  does  not  appear  that  he 
had  any  intention  of  rebelling ;  for  though  maintaining 
his  rights,  he  endeavoured  to  avoid  displeasing  the 
authorities.  But  he  was  continually  harassed  by  the 
untiring  enmity  of  Marshal  Bagenal,  who  intercepted 
many  of  his  letters  of  submission  and  explanation  to  the 
deputy  :  and  this  and  his  determination  to  regain  all 
the  ancestral  power  of  his  family  in  Ulster  gradually 
di'ew  him  into  rebellion. 

There  were  now  many  alarming  signs  and  rumours  of 
coming  disturbance ;  and  at  the  request  of  the  deputy  a 
force  of  3000  troops  was  sent  over  from  England  early 
in  1595,  under  the  command  of  Sir  John  jS'orris  presi- 
dent of  Munster,  an  officer  of  great  ability  and  expe- 
rience, on  whom  was  conferred  the  title  of  ''Lord 
Ganeral."  O'jS'eill  evidently  regarded  this  movement 
as  the  first  step  towards  the  subjugation  of  the  whole 
country,  including  his  own  province  of  Ulster ;  and  he 
decided  on  immediate  action.  His  young  brother  Art 
seized  Portmore  ;  and  he  himself  plundered  the  English 
settlements  of  Cavan. 

He  next,  in  the  same  year,  laid  siege  to  Monaghan 

and   reduced   its   English    garrison   to    great   distress. 

Is'' orris  and  his  brother  Sir  Thomas  managed  to  reach 

the  town  with  a  store  of  provisions,  with- 

A.D.  1595  out  meeting  with  any  opposition;  but  on 
their  return  march  to  iS'ewiy,  they  found 
O'JN'eill  with  his  army  drawn  up  on  the  far  bank  of  a 
small  stream  at  Clontibret,  six  miles  from  Monaghan. 
After  a  brave  contest  the  English  were  defeated ;  the 
two  Norrises  were  severely  wounded :  and  O'jS'eill  him- 
self slew  in  smgle  combat  a  gigantic  officer  named 
Segi'ave,  who  had  attacked  and  attempted  to  crush  him 
by  main  strength. 

e2 


244  A  child's  history  of  Ireland.     [cnAr.  xxxv. 

In  midsummer  of  this  year  (1595)  Lord  general 
Norris  marched  north,  determined  to  recover  Portmorc  ; 
but  he  was  opposed  and  harassed  by  O'Neill  and 
O'Donncll,  so  that  he  did  not  venture  to  attack  the 
fort;  and  he  returned  without  much  result.  There 
were  next  many  negotiations  and  conferences,  in  which 
O'Neill  always  insisted,  among  other  conditions,  that 
the  Catholics  should  have  full  liberty  to  practise  their 
religion ;  but  this  was  persistently  refused,  and  the  war 
still  went  on.  Nevertheless  the  queen  was  anxious  for 
peace ;  and  she  was  gi'eatly  exasperated  when  she 
heard  of  the  cruelties  of  Sir  Kichard  Bingham  president 
of  Connaught,  who  had  driven  nearly  all  the  chiefs  of 
that  pro^^nce  into  rebellion.  She  removed  him  in  Jan- 
uary 1597,  and  sent  in  his  place  Sir  Conyers  Clifford,  a 
just  and  humane  man. 

A  few  months  afterwards,  Thomas  Lord  Borough  was 
appointed  lord  deputy,  and  made  preparation  for  a 
combined  attack  on  Ulster  from  thi'ee  different  points  : 
— he  himself  to  march  fi'om  Dublin  towards  Portmore 
against  O'Neill ;  Sir  Conyers  Cli:fford  to  move  from 
Galway  to  Ballyshannon  against  O'Don- 

A.D.  159 J  nell ;  and  young  Barnewell,  son  of  Lord 
Trimblestone,  to  proceed  from  Mullingar : 
all  thi'ee  to  fonn  a  junction  near  Ballyshannon. 
O'Neill  and  O'Donnell  made  preparations  to  intercept 
them.  In  July  the  deputy  mai'ched  with  his  Leinster 
forces  towards  Portmore,  and  after  much  destructive 
skirmishing,  O'Neill  attacked  and  defeated  him  at 
Drumflugh  on  the  Blackwater,  near  Benburb.  Borough 
himself  and  the  earl  of  Xildare  were  wounded,  and 
both  died  soon  after.  But  the  deputy  accomplished  one 
important  object  : — ^he  regained  Portmore,  and  left 
in  it  a  garrison  of  300  men  in  charge  of  a  brave  and 


CHAP.  XXXVI.]     BATTLE  OF  THE  YELLOW  FOKD.  245 

capable  officer,  Captain  Williams.  Sir  Conyers  Clifford 
forced  his  way  across  the  Erne  and  laid  siege  to 
O'Donnell's  castle  at  Ballyshannon.  But  the  garrison, 
commanded  by  a  Scotchman  named  Crawford,  after 
desperate  fighting,  forced  the  attacking  party  to  retire 
with  considerable  loss.  Clifford  was  harassed  daily  by 
O'Donnell  and  reduced  to  great  distress ;  till  at  last  he 
was  forced  to  recross  the  river  in  great  haste  just  above 
the  waterfall  of  Assaroe,  and  retreat  back  to  Connaught, 
abandoning  all  his  cannons,  carriages,  and  stores  to 
O'Donnell,  and  losing  many  men  in  the  deep  and 
dangerous  ford.  As  to  young  Barnewell :  he  marched 
towards  the  north  with  1000  men ;  but  he  was  inter- 
cepted in  a  well-planned  ambuscade  by  Captain  Tyrrell 
at  Tyrrell's  Pass,  where  his  army  was  exterminated, 
and  he  himself  was  taken  and  sent  prisoner  to  the  earl 
of  Tyrone. 


CHAPTER  XXXYI. 

THE    BATTLE    OF    THE    YELLOW   FOED. 
A.D.  1597-1598.-Elizabeth. 

OETMOEE  was  HOW  occupied  by  Captair 
Williams  and  his  garrison  of  three 
hundi^ed.  jSTo  sooner  had  lord  deputy 
Borough  turned  southward  after  his 
defeat  at  Drumflugh  than  O'Neill  laid 
siege  to  it ;  and  watching  it  night  and 
day,  tried  every  stratagem  ;  but  the 
vigilance  and  determination  of  Williams 
completely  baffled  him.  At  last  he  attempted  a  storm 
by  means  of  scaling  ladders  (a.d.  1597) ;  but  the  ladders 


246  A  child's  history  of  IHELAND.    [chap.  XXXVI. 

turned  out  too  short,  and  the  storming  party  were 
met  by  such  a  fierce  onslaught  that  they  had  to  re- 
tire, leaving  thirty-four  of  their  men  dead  in  the 
fosse.  After  this,  O'^^eill,  having  had  sufficient  ex- 
perience of  the  captain's  mettle,  tried  no  more  active 
operations,  hut  sat  down,  determined  to  starve  the 
garrison  into  siuTcnder.  When  this  had  continued  for 
some  time,  Williams  and  his  men  began  to  suffer  sorely; 
and  they  would  have  been  diiven  to  suiTcnder  by  mere 
starvation,  but  for  the  good  fortune  of  hailing  seized  and 
brought  into  the  fort  a  number  of  O'JS'eill's  horses,  on 
which  they  now  chiefly  subsisted.  Even  with  this 
supply  they  were  so  pressed  by  hunger  that  they  ate 
every  weed  and  every  blade  of  grass  they  could  pick  up 
in  the  enclosui^e :  but  still  the  brave  captain  resolutely 
held  out. 

AVhen  tidings  of  these  events  reached  Dublin,  the 
council  sat  in  long  and  anxious  deliberation,  and  at 
first  decided  to  order  Williams  to  sun-ender;  but 
Marshal  Bagenal  amving  at  this  moment,  persuaded 
them  to  entrust  him  with  the  perilous  task  of  relieving 
the  fort.  Marching  north,  he  arrived  at  Armagh  with 
an  army  of  4000  foot  and  350  horse.  The  five  miles 
highway  between  this  city  and  Portmore  was  a  narrow 
strip  of  uneven  ground,  with  bogs  and  woods  at  both 
sides ;  and  right  in  the  way,  near  Eellanaboy  or  the 
Yellow  Ford,  on  the  little  river  Callan,  two  miles  north 
of  Armagh,  O'Keill  had  marshalled  his  forces,  and  deter- 
mined to  dispute  the  passage.  His  army  was  perhaps 
a  little  more  numerous  than  that  of  his  adversary,  well 
trained  and  disciplined,  armed  and  equipped  after  the 
English  fashion,  though  not  so  well  as  Eagenal's  army — 
they  had  no  armour,  for  instance,  while  many  of  the 
English  had  ;  and  he  had  the  advantage  of  an  excellent 


CHAP.  XXXYT.]    BATTLE  OF  THE  YELLOW  FORD.  247 

position  selected  by  himself.  He  had  with  him  Hugh 
Eoe  O'Donnell,  Maguire,  and  Mac  Donnell  of  the  Glens 
of  Antrim,  all  leaders  of  ability  and  experience.  At 
intervals  along  the  way  he  had  dug  deep  holes  and 
trenches,  and  had  otherwise  encumbered  the  line  of 
march  with  felled  trees  and  brushwood ;  and  right  in 
front  of  his  main  body  extended  a  trench  a  mile  long, 
five  feet  deep,  and  four  feet  across,  with  a  thick  hedge 
of  thorns  on  top.  Over  these  tremendous  obstacles,  in 
face  of  the  whole  strength  of  the  Irish  army,  Bagenal 
must  force  his  way,  if  he  is  ever  to  reach  the  starving 
little  band  cooped  up  in  Portmore. 

But  Bagenal  was  not  a  man  easily  daunted :  and  on 

the  morning  of  the  14th  August  he  began 
A.D.  1598    his   march  with  music   and  di^um.     The 

army  advanced  in  six  regiments,  forming 
three  divisions.  The  first  division — two  regiments — 
was  commanded  by  colonel  Percy :  the  marshal  himseK, 
as  commander-in-chief,  riding  in  the  second  regiment — 
the  general's  regiment,  as  it  was  called ;  the  second 
division,  consisting  of  the  third  and  fourth  regiments, 
was  commanded  by  colonel  Cosby  and  Sir  Thomas 
Wingfield ;  and  the  third  division  by  captains  Coneys 
and  Billings  :  and  these  six  infantry  regiments  marched 
one  behind  another  at  intervals  of  600  or  700  paces. 
The  horse  formed  two  separate  divisions,  one  on  each 
wing,  right  and  left,  under  Sir  Calisthenes  Brooke, 
with  captains  Montague  and  Fleming. 

On  the  night  before,  O'Neill  had  sent  forward  500 
light-armed  kern,  who  concealed  themselves  till  morning 
in  the  woods  and  thickets  along  the  way;  and  the 
English  had  not  advanced  far  when  these  opened  fire 
from  both  sides,  which  they  kept  up  during  the  whole 
march  past.      Thi'ough   all   obstacles — fii'e,    bog,    and 


248  A  chill's  niSTORY  OF  nUELAND.    [chap.  XXXVI. 

pitfalls — the  army  struggled  and  fought  resolutely,  till 
the  first  regiment  reached  the  great  trench.  A  deter- 
mined rush  across,  a  brief  and  fierce  hand-to-hand 
struggle,  and  in  spite  of  all  opposition  they  got  to  the 
other  side.  Instantly  reforming,  they  pushed  on,  but 
had  got  only  a  little  way  when  they  were  charged  by 
a  solid  body  of  Irish  and  utterly  overwhelmed.  It  now 
appeared  that  a  fatal  mistake  in  tactics  had  been  made 
by  Bagenal.    The  several  regiments  were  too  far  asunder, 


OD 


N 


ArwagK 


Plan  of  the  Battle  of  the  Yellow  Ford,  after  the  two  first  English  regiments  had  crossed 
the  trench.    English  regiments  numbered  and  made  dark  for  distinction. 

O'D.  O'Donnell,  Maguire,  and  Mac  Donnell  of  the  Glens :   horse  and 

foot,  about  to  attack  last  two  regiments. 
O'N.  O'Neill's  horse  and  foot. 
S.       The  "  Saker  "  or  cannon  bogged. 
Pow.  Where  the  powder  blew  up. 
t         Spot  where  Marshal  Bagenal  fell. 
I.        Irish  regiment  that  overwhehned  the  first  two  English  regiments,  Gand  P. 

Constructed  from  a  Contemp.  Plan  of  Battle  in  Gilbert's  "Fac-Sim.  Nat.  MSS." 

and  the  men  of  the  vanguard  were  almost  all  killed 
before  the  second  regiment  could  come  up.  When  at 
last  this  second  line  appeared,  O'lS'eill  with  a  body  of 
horse,  knowing  that  Bagenal  was  at  their  head,  spurred 


CHAP.  XXXVI.]    BATTLE  OP  THE  YELLOW  FORD.  249 

forward  to  seek  him  out  and  settle  wi'ong  and  quan-el 
hand  to  hand.  Eut  they  were  not  fated  to  meet.  The 
brave  marshal,  fatigued  with  fighting,  lifted  his  visor 
for  a  moment  to  look  about  him  and  take  breath  ;  and 
hardly  had  he  done  so  when  a  musket  ball  pierced  his 
brain  and  he  fell  lifeless. 

Even  after  this  catastrophe  the  second  regiment 
passed  the  trench,  and  were  augmented  by  those  of  the 
first  who  survived.  These  soon  found  themselves  hard 
pressed;  which  Cosby  becoming  aware  of,  pushed  on 
with  his  third  regiment  to  their  relief ;  but  they  were 
cut  to  pieces  before  he  had  come  up.  A  cannon  had  got 
bogged  in  Cosby's  rear,  straight  in  the  line  of  march ; 
and  the  oxen  that  di'ew  it  having  been  killed,  the  men 
of  the  fouiih  regiment  made  frantic  efforts  to  free  it, 
fighting  for  their  lives  all  the  time,  for  the  Irish  were 
swarming  all  round  them.  Meantime,  during  this  delay, 
Cosby's  regiment  was  attacked  and  destroyed,  and  he 
himself  was  taken  prisoner.  While  all  this  was  taking 
place  in  the  English  front,  there  was  hard  fighting  in 
the  rear.  For  O'JS'eill,  who  with  a  small  party  of  horse 
had  kept  his  place  near  the  trench,  fighting  and  issuing 
orders,  had,  at  the  beginning  of  the  battle,  sent  towards 
the  enemy's  rear  O'Donnell,  Maguire,  and  Mac  Donnell 
of  the  Glens,  who  passing  by  the  flank  of  the  second 
division,  hotly  engaged  as  they  were,  fell  on  the  last 
two  regiments,  which  after  a  prolonged  struggle  to  get 
forward,  "being  hard  sett  to,  retyred  foully  [in  disorder] 
to  Ai^magh." 

The  fourth  regiment,  at  last  leaving  their  cannon  in 
the  bog,  made  a  dash  for  the  trench ;  but  scarcely  had 
they  started  when  a  waggon  of  gunpowder  exploded  in 
their  midst,  by  which  they  were  "  disrancked  and 
rowted"  and  great  numbers  were  killed,  "wherewith," 


250  A  rniLn's  nisroKv  of  ihkland.    [cFiAr.  xxxvi. 

as  the  Englisli  account  says,  "  tlio  traitors  were  en- 
couraged and  our  men  dismayed."  O'Neill,  observing 
the  confusion,  seized  the  moment  for  a  furious  charge. 
The  main  body  of  the  English  had  been  already  waver- 
ing after  the  explosion,  and  now  there  was  a  general 
rout  of  both  middle  and  rear.  Fighting  on  the  side  of 
the  English  was  an  Irish  chief,  Mailmora  or  Myles 
O'Keilly,  who  was  known  as  Mailmora  the  Handsome, 
and  who  called  himself  the  Queen's  O'Eeilly.  He  made 
two  or  three  desperate  attempts  to  rally  the  flying 
squadi'ons,  but  all  in  vain  ;  and  at  last  he  himself  fell 
slain  among  the  others. 

The  multitude  fled  back  towards  Armagh,  pro- 
tected by  the  cavalry  under  captain  Montague,  an  able 
and  intrepid  officer,  for  Sir  Calisthenes  Brooke  had  been 
wounded;  and  the  Irish  pui'sued  them — as  the  Eoui' 
Masters  express  it — "  by  pairs,  thi'ees,  scores,  and 
thirties."  Two  thousand  of  the  English  were  killed, 
together  with  their  general  and  nearly  all  the  officers ; 
and  the  \dctors  became  masters  of  the  artillery,  ammu- 
nition, and  stores  of  the  royal  army.  On  the  Irish  side 
the  loss  is  variously  estimated  fi'om  200  to  700.  This 
was  the  greatest  overthrow  the  English  ever  su:ffered 
since  they  had  first  set  foot  in  Ireland. "^^ 

A  large  body  of  fugitives  shut  themselves  up  m 
Armagh,  where  they  were  closely  invested  by  the 
Irish.  But  Montague,  with  a  company  of  horse,  most 
coui'ageously  forced  his  way  out  and  brought  the  evil 
tidings  to  Dublin.  In  a  few  days  the  garrisons  of 
Ai'magh  and  Portmore  capitulated — the  valiant  captain 
Williams  yielding  only  after  a  most  pressing  message 


^*  The  above  account  of  the  battle  has  been  taken  chiefly  from 
Eiiu-lish  sources. 


CHAP.  XXXVII.]  THE  EAEL  OF  ESSEX. 


251 


from  Armagli— and  were  permitted  to  retire  to  Dim- 
dalk,  leaving  colours,  drums,  and  ammunition  behind. 

When  the  southern  chiefs  heard  of  O'Neill's  great 
victory,  the  Munster  rebellion  broke  out  like  Lightning. 
The  confederates,  including  the  Geraldines,  attacked 
the  settlements  to  regain  the  lands  that  had  been  taken 
from  them  a  dozen  years  before  (p.  229) ;  they  expelled 
the  settlers;  and  before  long  they  had  recovered  all 
Desmond's  castles.  The  lord  lieutenant  and  Sir  Thomas 
Xorris,  president  of  Munster,  were  quite  unable  to  cope 
with  the  rebellion,  and  left  Munster  to  the  rebels. 


CHAPTER     XXXYII, 

THE  EAEL  OF  ESSEX. 
A.  D.   1599-1600  —  Elizabeth. 


HE  queen  was  greatly  exasperated  when 
news  reached  her  of  the  Eattle  of  the 
Yellow   Ford ;    and   she   wrote   to   the 
Dublin  Council,  censuring  them  bitterly, 
and  expressing  her  belief  that  this  cata- 
strophe, and  many  others,  were  owing  to  their  incapa- 
city and  mismanagement.     At  this  grave  juncture  she 
appointed,  as  lord  lieutenant,  Robert  Devereux,  second 
carl  of  Essex,  son  of  Essex  of  the  Plantations  (p.  229). 
He  brought  an  aimy  of  20,000  men,  and 
A.D,  1599    the  queen  invested  him  with  almost   as 
much  power  as  if  she  had  made  him  king 
of  Ireland  ;  gi^^ing  him  at  the  same  time  distinct  instruc- 
tions to  direct  all  his  strength  against  the  earl  of  Tyrone 


252 


A  child's  history  of  IRELAND.     [cHAr.  XXXVII. 


and  the  other  rebels  of  Ulster,  and  to  plant  garrisons 
at  Lough  Foyle  and  Bally  shannon.  Though  he  was  a 
brave  and  distinguished  soldier,  he  did  not  under- 
stand how  to  carry  on  war  in  Ireland  ;  and,  as  we  shalj 
see,  he  mismanaged  the  whole  camjoaign.  He  delayed 
proceeding  against  Tyrone,  and  he  neglected  altogether 
the  order  for  planting  garrisons.  Soon^after  his  amval 
in  Dublin,   he  foolishly  scattered  a  good  part  of  his 


From  Mrs.  Hall's  "  Ireland.' 


army,  by  sending  detachments  to  various  minor  stations 
through  the  country.  Then,  probably  deeming  it  not 
yet  quite  safe  to  attempt  the  reduction  of  O'T^eill,  he 
deliberately  disobeyed  the  queen's  instructions  by  set- 
ting out  for  the  South  in  May,  with  7000  men,  chiefly 
with  the  object  of  chastising  the  Geraldines. 

Through  the  whole  of  this  disastrous  joui-ney,  which 


CHAP.  XXXYH.]  THE  EAEL  OF  ESSEX.  253 

occupied  about  six  weeks,  the  insui'gents  constantly 
hung  round  his  aiTay  and  never  gave  him  an  hour's 
rest,  so  that  he  had  to  fight  every  inch  of  his  way. 
The  O'Moores  killed  500  of  his  men  at  the  "Pass  of 
the  Plumes,"  near  Maryborough,  which  was  so  called 
from  the  number  of  English  helmet-plumes  that  re- 
mained strewn  about  after  the  fight.  Having  extricated 
himself  fi'om  this  pass,  Essex  pushed  on  for  Caher  in  Tip- 
perary,  where  he  took  the  castle  from  Thomas  Butler, 
one  of  O'Neill's  confederates,  after  a  siege  of  ten  days 
— the  only  successful  exploit  of  the  whole  expedition. 
Passing  round  by  Limerick,  Fermoy,  Lismore,  and 
Waterford,  he  retui^ned  to  Dublin  in  June,  "  the 
soldiers,"  as  the  historian  Moryson  says,  "  being 
weary,  sick,  and  incredibly  diminished  in  numbers." 

Matters  were  going  on  no  better  in  the  West  of 
Ireland.  In  Collooney  in  Sligo,  was  a  strong  castle 
held  by  0' Conor  of  Sligo,  one  of  the  Government  sup- 
porters, which  was  now  closely  besieged  by  O'Donnell ; 
whereupon  Sir  Conyers  Clifford,  by  orders  of  Essex, 
marched  from  Galway  to  relieve  it.  Having  arrived  at 
Boyle,  he  started  to  cross  the  Cuiiieu  Hills  into  Sligo  ; 

but  he  was  intercepted  by  O'Donnell  in  a 
A.D.  1599    difficult  part  of  the  mountain  road,  called 

Ballaghboy  or  the  Yellow  Pass.  After  a 
very  sharp  fight  the  English  were  defeated,  and  fled ; 
and  Sir  Conyers,  endeavoiuing  to  rally  his  men,  was 
killed  in  the  pass.  He  was  greatly  regretted  by  the 
Irish,  who  bulged  him  with  much  respect. 

Essex's  fine  anny  had  melted  away  in  a  few  months ; 
and  at  his  own  request  he  now  got  2000  more  from  the 
queen  ;  who,  however,  was  veiy  indignant  against  him, 
and  wrote  him  a  bitter  letter  commanding  him  to  pro- 
ceed at  once  against  O'^N'eill.     In  August  1599,  he  set 


254 


A  CHILD  S  niSTORY  OF  IRELAND.        CHAP.  XXXVII. 


out  at  last  for  the  north,  with  only  2500  men  :  but  he 
found  the  insurgent  earl  so  strongly  entrenched  in  his 
camp  on  a  high  bank  over  the  little  river  Lagan,  about 
halfway  between  CaiTickmacross  and  Ardee,   that  he 


- 

i^^     - 

^« 

f  4MbI 

■tRj|^^^M|p-, 

'  '^^^^^     ^^M 

^^^ 

"^M 

lBp[^^ 

-^ 

^ 

Essex  and  O'Neill.     From  .Moore  s  "  History  of  Ireland,"  iv.,  Title  page. 

did  not  dare  to  attack  him.  O'Xeill  now  requested  a 
conference,  which  was  granted.  Early  on  a  morning  in 
September,  the  two  leaders  rode  down  unattended,  from 
the  heio-hts  on  either  side  of  the  river.    O'jN'eill  saluted 


CHAr.  xxxvn.]        the  earl  op  essex.  255 

the  earl  witli  great  respect ;  and  spuiTing  his  horse  into 
the  stream,  to  be  near  enough  to  hold  converse,  he 
remained  there  up  to  his  saddle-girths  during  the  whole 
conference,  while  he  laid  down  the  conditions  he  de- 
manded. A  truce  was  agreed  on:  but  nothing  ever 
came  of  this  conference  ;  for,  immediately  afterwards. 
Essex  suddenly  sailed  for  England.  The  remainder  of 
his  short  career,  ending  on  the  block,  belongs  to  the 
history  of  England. 

For  some  timo  after  the  departui'e  of  Essex  there 
were  negotiations  for  peace  ;  but  they  were  all  ren- 
dered fi'uitless  by  the  refusal  of  the  queen  and  govern- 
ment on  the  one  vital  point  of  fi-eedom  of  religious 
worship,  which  O'l^eill  always  insisted  on.  He  visited 
Munster  in  January,  1600,  and  encamped  with  his 
army  at  Inishcarra  on  the  Lee,  six  miles  above  Cork ; 
where  most  of  the  southern  chiefs  visited  him  and 
acknowledged  him  as  their  leader. 

For  the  last  two  years  victory  and  success  had 
attended  the  Irish  almost  without  interruption  ;  and 
Hugh  O'Xeill,  earl  of  Tp'one,  had  now  attained  the 
very  summit  of  his  power.  But  after  this  the  tide 
began  to  turn ;  and  soon  came  the  day  of  defeat  and 
disaster.  In  the  next  four-  chapters  will  be  related  the 
waning  fortunes  of  the  earl  of  Tp'one,  and  the  waning 
fortunes  of  his  cause. 


Portion  of  a  Bell-shrine  found  in  the  River  Bann.     From  Miss  Stokes's 
"  Christian  Inscriptions,"  ii.  io6. 


CHAPTER  XXXVIII. 


THE    TURN    OF   THE   TIDE  :     BATTLE    OF    KINSALE. 
A.D.  1600-1602 —EUzabeth. 

HAELEs  Blount  Lord  Mount]  oy,  a  man  of 
gi-eat  ability,  and  a  more  formidable  ad- 
versary than  any  yet  encountered  by 
O'JN'eill,  was  the  person  chosen  by  the 
queen  to  succeed  Essex  as  governor. 
He  came  to  Ireland  in  February,  and 
as  soon  as  O'JN'eill   heard  of   his  amval  he 
broke  up  his  camp  at  InishcaiTa,  where  he 
had   tarried   for  six  weeks,   and   returned   to  Ulster. 
Along  with  Mount]  oy   came   Sir  George 
A.D.  160 O    Carew  as  president  of   Munster,   a   man 
quite  as  able  and  courageous,  but  crafty 
and  avaricious.    He  had  an  intense  hatred  for  the  Irish, 
mainly  because  his  brother  had  been  killed  by  them  in 
the  battle  of  Glenmalure  (p.  224). 

Carew  directed  all  his  energies  against  the  Munster 
rebels,  capturing  their  castles  one  after  another ;  and 
he  caused  his  soldiers  to  destroy  the  crops  wherever  he 
went  in  order  to  produce  a  famine.  The  famine  ulti- 
mately came,  and  the  people — men,  women,  and  children 
— perished  by  thousands  of  starvation. 

While  these  events  were  taking  place  in  the  south, 
O'j^^eill  ajad  O'Donnell  were  kept  busy  in  the  north. 


CHAP.  XXXViri.]  BATTLE  OF  KINSALE.  257 

It  had  long  been  the  intention  of  the  government  to 
plant  garrisons  on  the  shores  of  Lough  Foyle  ;  and  we 
have  seen  how  Essex  had  neglected  the  queen's  com- 
mand to  do  so.  Now  a  powerful  aimament  of  4000 
foot  and  200  horse,  under  the  command  of  Sir  Heniy 
Docwra,  with  abundance  of  stores  and  building  materials, 
sailed  for  Lough  Toyle  in  ^ay ;  at  the  same  time, 
in  order  to  divert  O'l^eill's  attention  and  di^aw  off 
opposition,  Mount]  oy  marched  north  from  Dublin  as  if 
to  invade  Tyrone.  Whiile  O'Neill  and  O'Donnell  were 
opposing  Mount] oy,  Docwi^a  succeeded  in  building  a  fort 
at  Culmore,  ]ust  at  the  mouth  of  the  river  Toyle  ;  and 
soon  after,  in  spite  of  the  opposition  of  the  two  chiefs, 
he  erected  two  others,  one  at  Deny,  then  almost  unin- 
habited ;  and  the  other  at  Dunnalong  five  miles  farther 
up  the  river,  at  the  Tyrone  side. 

Leinster  had  shared  in  the  O'Neill  rebellion :  and 
Owney  O'Moore,  the  chief  of  Leix,  had  succeeded  in 
winning  back  most  of  his  principality.  The  country 
had  quite  recovered  from  the  wars  of  the  Plantations, 
nearly  haK  a  centuiy  before  (p.  228) :  the  land  was 
well  cultivated,  and  the  people  were  prosperous  and 
contented.  Moryson,  the  historian,  Mountjoy's  secre- 
tary, tells  us  that  the  ground  was  well  tilled,  the 
fields  fenced  in  an  orderly  manner,  the  towns  well 
inhabited,  the  highways  in  good  repair  :  "  The  reason 
whereof,"  he  says,  "  was  that  the  queen's  forces 
during  these  wars  never  till  then  came  among 
them."  But  now  all  this  was  to  be  changed.  To 
punish  them  for  their  part  in  the  rebellion.  Mount]  oy 
set  out  in  August  1600,  from  Dublin,  with  a  large 
force,  and  a  supply  of  sickles,  scythes,  and  harrows  to 
tear  up  the  com ;  and  he  soon  destroyed  the  crops  of  the 
whole    district;    after  which  he   retuined   to  Dublin, 


258 


A   CllllJ)'s  JllSTOKY  01-'  IRELAND.     [cHAr.  XXXVIII. 


leaving  the  peoijle  to  despair  and  hunger,  their  smiling 
district  tiu*ned  to  a  hlack  ruin.  Soon  after  this  he 
marched  north  and  employed  himself  in  the  same 
manner,  till  he  had  destroyed  the  people's  means  of 
subsistence  over  a  large  part  of  Ulster.  Ey  the  middle 
of  1 60 1  the  rebellion  may  be  said  to  have  been  crushed 
in  the  three  southern  provinces.  In  Ulster,  though 
O'Neill  and  O'Donnell  were  still  actively  engaged  in 
defensive  warfare,  they  had  become  greatly  circum- 
scribed. But  the  war  was  now  fated  to  be  renewed  in 
another  quarter  of  the  island. 

Sigpiature  of  Hugh  O'Neill  earl  of  Tyrone  in  i6oi,  to  a  Proclamation  in  Irish 
written  in  his  own  hand :  "  O'Neill."    From  Gilberts  "  Fac-Sim.  Nat.  MSS." 

The  aid  which  the  Irish  chiefs  had  long  expected 
from  Spain  came  at  last.  On  the  23rd  of  September,  a 
Spanish  fleet  entered  the  harboui'  of  Kinsale  with  3400 


:insal3  Harbour.    From  Mrs.  HaU's  "  Ireland 


CHAP.  XXXTIII.]  BATTLE  OF  KLNSALE.  259 

troops  under  the  command  of  Don  Juan  del  Aguila.  They 

immediately  took  possession  of  the  town : 

A.D.  1601    and  Del  Aguila  despatched  a  message  to 

Ulster  to  O'jS'eill  and  O'Donnell  to  come 

south  without  delay.     An  express  messenger  fi'om  Cork 

brought  the  news  to  Mount  joy  and  Carew,  who  at  once 

began  to  muster  their  forces ;  and  at  the  end  of  three 

weeks  they  encamped  on  the  north  side  of  Kinsale  with 

an  army  of  12,000  men. 

On  the  receipt  of  Del  Aguila's  message,  the  northern 
chiefs,  though  urgently  needed  in  their  own  province, 
made  a  hasty  preparation  to  march  south.  O'Donnell 
was  fii'st.  Setting  out  from  Ballymote,  and  crossing  the 
Shannon  into  Tipperary,  he  encamped  near  Holycross. 
Eut  here  his  further  progress  was  barred;  for  Carew, 
whom  Mount  joy  had  sent  to  intercept  him,  lay  right  in 
his  path  near  Cashel;  the  Slieve  Felim  mountains  on 
his  right — to  the  west — were  impassable  for  an  army 
with  baggage  on  account  of  recent  heavy  rains ;  and  he 
dared  not  go  towards  the  left  through  Kilkenny,  as  he 
might  encounter  the  army  of  the  Pale.  At  the  same 
time,  wishing  to  reserve  his  strength,  he  was  deter- 
mined to  reach  Kinsale  without  fighting.  Luckily 
there  came  a  sudden  and  intense  fi^ost  on  the  night  of 
the  22nd  of  !N'ovember,  which  hardened  up  bog  and 
morass  and  made  them  passable.  The  Irish  general, 
instantly  taking  advantage  of  this,  set  out  that  night 
westwards,  crossed  the  Slieve  Felim  mountains  with 
his  hardy  Tirconnell  men,  and  reached  Croom  the  next 
night  after  a  march  of  forty  English  miles — "the 
greatest  march  with  [incumbrance  of]  carriage,"  says 
Carew,  "  that  hath  been  heard  of." 

During  the  month  of  iN'ovember,  the  English  had 
canied  on  the  siege  vigorously;  but  after  O'Donnell's 


260  A  cniLc's  nisTOKY  of  Ireland,   [chap,  xxxviii. 

arrival  things  began  to  go  against  them ;  for  they  were 
hemmed  in  by  the  town  on  one  side,  and  by  the  Irish 
army  on  the  other,  so  that  they  were  now  themselves 
besieged.  They  were  threatened  with  famine,  for  hardly 
any  food  could  be  procured  for  either  men  or  horses ; 
and  the  weather  was  so  inclement  that  they  lost  numbers 
of  their  men  every  day  by  cold  and  sickness. 

O'Neill  arrived  on  the  21st  December  with  an  army 
of  about  4000.  He  saw  at  once  how  matters  st  .od, 
and  his  counsel  was,  not  to  attack  the  English,  but  to 
let  their  army  melt  away;  for  already  6000  of  them 
had  perished  ;  but  he  was  overruled  in  a  council  of  war, 
and  a  combined  attack  of  Irish  and  Spaniards  was 
ari'anged  for  the  night  of  the  3rd  of  January  1602. 
Meantime  an  Irish  traitor,  Brian  Mac  Mahon,  sent  secret 
information  of  the  intended  attack  to  the  English. 

The  night  was  unusually  dark,  wet,  and  stormy ;  the 

guides  lost  their  way,  and  the  army  wandered  aimlessly 

and  wearily,  till  at  length  at  the  dawn  of 

A.D.  1603  day,  O'JS'eill  unexpectedly  found  himself 
near  the  English  lines,  which  he  saw 
were  quite  prepared  to  receive  him.  His  own  men 
were  wearied  and  his  lines  in  some  disorder,  so  he 
ordered  the  army  to  retii^e  a  little,  either  to  place  them 
in  better  order  of  battle  or  to  postpone  the  attack. 
But  Mount]  oy's  quick  eye  caught  the  situation  at  once, 
and  he  hurled  his  cavalry  on  the  retreating  ranks.  Eor 
a  whole  hour  O'l^eill  defended  himself,  still  retiring, 
till  his  retreat  became  little  better  than  a  rout.  All 
efforts  to  rally  his  ranks  were  vain ;  by  some  mistake 
Del  Aguila's  attack  did  not  come  off ;  and  the  Irish  lost 
the  battle  of  Kinsale.  A  short  time  after  the  battle  Del 
Aguila  surrendered  the  town ;  quite  needlessly,  for  he 
could  have  held  it  till  further  help  came,  both  frorn 


CHAP-  XXXVIII.]  BATTLE  OF  KINSALE.  261 

O'Keill  and  from  the  king  of  Spain ;  and  having  agreed 
also  to  give  up  the  castles  of  Baltimore,  Castlehaven,  and 
Dunhoy,  which  were  garrisoned  by  Spaniards,  he  re- 
tui-ned  to  Spain.  He  was  justly  blamed  by  King  Philip 
III.  of  Spain,  and  on  his  arrival  he  was  placed  under 
arrest,  which  so  affected  him  that  he  died  of  grief. 

On  the  night  after  the  fatal  day  of  Kinsale,  the  Irish 
chiefs  retired  with  their  broken  army  to  Innishannon. 
Here  they  held  a  sad  council,  in  which  it  was  resolved 
to  send  O'Donnell  to  Spain  for  fiu?ther  help.  Leaving 
his  Tirconnellian  forces  in  command  of  his  brother  Rory, 
O'Donnell  set  out  and  arrived  in  Spain  in  due  coiu'se. 
He  was  treated  everywhere  with  the  greatest  respect 
and  honour ;  and  King  Philip  received  him  most 
cordially,  assimng  him  that  he  would  send  with  him 
to  Ireland  an  armament  much  more  powerful  than  that 
of  Del  Aguila.  But  Red  Hugh  O'Donnell  never  saw 
his  native  Ulster  more.  He  took  suddenly  ill  at 
Simancas ;  and  his  bodily  ailment  was  intensified  by 
sickness  of  heart,  for  he  had  heard  of  the  siuTender  of 
Kinsale  and  of  the  fall  of  Dunboy  (next  chapter) ;  and 
he  died  on  the  10th  of  September  1602,  in  the  twenty - 
ninth  vear  of  his  aire. 


7t^  ad. 


V?l/}1 


Red  Ilu^'h  O'Donnell's  signature  :  it  is  in  Irish,  and  contracted  :— Aodh 
Odoiun:  that  is,  Aodh  Odomhnaill,  Hugh  O'Donnell.  From  "  Ulster  Jour- 
nal of  Archaeologj',"  II.,  PI.  I.,  Ne.  9. 


Coiiiposed  from  the  iJook  of  Kells. 


CHAPTER   XXXIX. 

THE       SIEGE       OF      D  TJ  N  B  0  Y  . 
A.D.  1602.— EUzabeth. 

■  HE  Irish  chiefs  were  very  indignant  with 

Del   Agiiila    for    surrendering   Kinsale ; 

and  they  were  incensed  heyond  measui^e 

when  they  heard  that  he  had  agreed  to 

hand  over  to  the   deputy  the  castles   of 

Baltimore,    Castlehaven,    and   Dunhoy  (p.  261).     The 

castles  had  not  yet  been  given  up  however,  and  Donall 

0' Sullivan,   chief  of  Beare  and  Bantry,  the  owner  of 

Dunboy,  hoping  that  O'Donnell  would  soon  return  with 

help  from  Spain,  resolved  to  regain  possession  of  it  and 

defend  it.     It  was  situated  on  a  point  of  the  mainland 

jutting  into  the  channel  west  of  Beare  Island,  and  had 

the  reputation  of  being  impregnable.     In  Februaiy  he 

threw  in  a  body  of  native  troops  under 

A.D.  1602    the  command  of  Richard  Mac  Geoghegan 

and  Thomas  Taylor,  an  Englishman.    The 

Spaniards  who  held  it  were  sent  away ;  and  now  Mac 

Geoghegan' s  whole  garrison  amounted  to  143  men,  who 

straightway  began  to  make  preparations  for  a  siege. 

Carew  set  out  on  his  march  from  Cork  with  3000 
men  to  lay  siege  to  the  castle,  sending  round  his  ships 
with   ordnance   and   stores.      At   Bantry  Sir    Charles 


CfiAt.  XXXIX.  J  THE  SIEGE  OF  DtTNBOY.  263 

Wilmot  joined  him  with  1000  more.  The  whole  army 
was  conveyed  to  Great  Beare  Island  by  sea,  in  the  first 
few  days  of  June ;  and  encamped  near  the  ill-starred 
castle.  The  devoted  little  garrison  never  flinched  at 
sight  of  the  powerful  armament  of  4000  men,  and  only 
exerted  themselves  all  the  more  resolutely  to  strengthen 
their  position. 


Bearhaven  and  Dunboy  Castle  in  1843.     Castle  in  the  foreground  to  the  right. 
From  Mrs.  Hall's  "  Ireland." 

And  now  the  siege  was  begun  and  carried  on  with 
great  vigour  ;  and  day  after  day  the  ordnance  thundered 
against  the  walls.  On  the  17th  of  June  the  castle  was 
so  shattered  that  Mac  Geoghegan  sent  to  Carew  o:ffering 
to  surrender,  on  condition  of  being  allowed  to  march 
out  with  arms  :  but  Carew' s  only  answer  was  to  hang 
the  messenger  and  to  give  orders  for  a  final  assault. 
The  storming  party  were  resisted  with  desperation,  and 
many  were  killed  on  both  sides;    but  the   defenders 


264  A  child's  nisTOiiY  or  Ireland,    [chap,  xxxix. 

were  driven  from  turret  to"  turret  by  sheer  force  of 
numbers ;  till  at  last  tliey  had  to  take  refuge  in  the 
eastern  wing  which  had  not  yet  been  injured.  The 
only  way  to  reach  this  was  by  a  narrow  passage  where 
fireanns  could  not  be  used  ;  and  a  furious  hand-to-hand 
combat  was  kept  up  for  an  houi'  and  a  half,  while  from 
various  standpoints  the  defenders  poured  down  bullets, 
stones,  and  every  available  missile  on  the  assailants, 
killing  and  wounding  great  numbers. 

While  this  was  going  on,  some  of  the  besiegers,  by 
clearing  away  a  heap  of  rubbish,  made  their  way  in  by 
a  back  passage,  so  that  the  garrison  foimd  themselves 
assailed  on  all  sides ;  whereupon  forty  of  them  sallying 
out,  made  a  desperate  rush  for  the  sea,  intending  to 
swim  to  the  island.  But  before  they  had  reached  the 
water  they  were  intercepted  and  cut  down,  all  but 
eight  who  plunged  into  the  sea ;  and  for  these  the 
president  had  provided  by  stationing  a  party  with  boats 
outside,  *'  who,"  in  Carew's  words,  "  had  the  killing  of 
them  all." 

This  furious  struggle  had  lasted  during  the  whole 
long  summer  day,  and  it  was  now  sunset ;  the  castle 
was  a  mass  of  ruins,  and  the  number  of  the  garrison 
was  greatly  reduced.  Late  as  it  was  the  assault  was 
maintained  vigorously ;  and  after  another  hour's  fighting 
the  assailants  gained  all  the  upper  part  of  the  castle  ; 
and  the  Irish,  now  only  seventy-seven,  took  refuge  in 
the  cellars.  Then  Carew,  leaving  a  strong  guard  at  the 
entrance,  withdrew  his  men  for  the  night ;  while  those 
in  the  castle  enjoyed  their  brief  rest  as  best  they  could, 
knowing  what  was  to  come  with  the  light  of  day. 

On  the  next  morning — the  18th  of  June — Taylor 
was  in  command ;  for  Mac  Geoghegan  was  mortally 
wounded ;  and  the  men  resolved  to  defend  themselves 


CHAP.  XXXIX.]  THE  SIEGE  OF  DTJNBOT.  265 

to  the  last,  except  twenty-three  who  laid  down  their 
arms  and  suiTendered.  Carew  now  directed  his  cannons 
on  the  cellars  till  he  hattered  them  into  ruins  on  the 
heads  of  the  devoted  hand ;  and  at  length  Taylor's  men 
forced  him  to  surrender.  When  a  party  of  English 
entered  to  take  the  captiyes,  Mac  Geoghegan,  who  was 
lying  on  the  floor,  his  life  ehbing  away,  snatched  a 
lighted  candle  from  Taylor's  hand,  and  exerting  all  his 
remaining  strength,  staggered  towards  some  barrels  of 
powder  which  stood  in  a  corner  of  the  cellar.  But  one 
of  Carew's  officers  caught  him  and  held  him  in  his  anns, 
while  the  others  killed  him  with  their  swords.  On 
that  same  day  Carew  executed  fifty-eight  of  those  who 
had  suiTendered.  He  reserved  Taylor  and  foui^teen 
others  to  tempt  them  to  give  information ;  hut  as  they 
firmly  refused  to  purchase  their  lives  on  such  tenns,  he 
had  them  all  hanged. 

It  is  chiefly  from  Carew  himself  that  this  account 
of  the  siege  is  taken  :  and  he  concludes  by  saying  that 
of  the  143  defenders  of  Dunboy  "  no  one  man  escaped 
but  were  either  slaine,  executed,  or  buried  in  the  ruins ; 
and  so  obstinate  and  resolved  a  defence  had  not  been 
scene  within  this  kingdom."  The  powder  that  was  in 
the  vaults  was  heaped  together  and  ignited ;  and  all 
that  remained  of  Dunboy  was  blown  into  fragments, 
except  two  parallel  side  walls  which  are  still  standing. 


''"ll"illl!"i»llill"lilllWllllilllllllllilll»IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIHMIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIItlMIII|l|lllllll^^ 

Coni|^>osed  from  the  Book  of  Kells. 


CHAPTER   XL. 

THE   EETEEAT    OF   o' SULLIVAN    BEARE. 
A.D.  1603.— Elizabeth. 

FTER  the  capture  of  Dunboy,  Donall  0' Sulli- 
van, the  lord  of  Beare  and  Bantry,  had 
no  home ;  for  his  other  castles,  including 
those  of  Dursey  Island  and  Carriganass, 
had  also  been  taken.  He  was  still  how- 
ever at  the  head  of  a  formidable  band  among  the  glens 
of  South  ITunster :  and  he  kept  up  the  struggle  resolutely 
in  Glengarriff  and  thereabout  against  Sir  Charles  Wilmot 
and  his  more  numerous  forces.  But  towards  the  end 
of  the  year  (1602)  ill  news  came  from  Spain:  that 
O'Donnell  was  dead,  and  that  King  Philip,  on  hearing 
of  the  fall  of  Dunboy,  had  countermanded  the  intended 
expedition.  Pinding  that  he  could  no  longer  maintain 
himself  and  his  followers  where  he  was,  he  resolved  to 
bid  farewell  to  the  land  of  his  inheritance  and  seek  a 
refuge  in  Ulster.  On  the  last  day  of  the  year  1602  he 
set  out  from  Glengarriif  on  his  memorable  retreat,  with 
400  fighting  men,  and  600  women,  children,  and 
servants.  The  march  was  one  unbroken  scene  of  con- 
flict and  hardship.  They  were  everywhere  confronted 
or  pursued  by  enemies,  who  attacked  them  when  they 
dared ;  and  they  su:ffered  continually  from  fatigue,  cold, 
and  hunger.    ''  0' Sullivan  was  not  a  day  or  night  during 


CHAP.  XL.]         RETREAT  OF  o'stlLLIVAX  BEARE.  267 

this  period,"  say  the  Four  Masters,  "  without  a  battle, 
or  being  vehemently  or  vindictively  pursued,  all  which 
he   sustained   and   responded   to   with   manliness   and 


Carriganass  Castle  as  at  present :  on  the  river  Owvane,  6  miles  N.K.  from  Bantry. 

They  fled  m  such  haste  that  they  were  able  to  bring 
with  them  only  one  day's  provisions,  trusting  to  be  able 
to  obtain  food  as  they  fared  along;  for  0' Sullivan  had 
plenty  of  money,  which  had  been  sent  to  him  from 
Spain.  But  they  found  the  people  generally  too  much 
terrified  by  Carew's  threats  to  give  them  help  or  shelter, 
or  to  sell  them  provisions.  As  they  could  not  buy,  they 
had  either  to  take  by  force  or  starve,  which  explains 
much  of  the  hostility  they  encountered ;  for  no  man  will 
permit  his  substance  to  be  taken  without  resistance. 
Scarce  a  day  passed  without  loss :  some  fell  behind  or 
left  the  ranks  overcome  with  weariness ;  some  sank  and 


268  A  guild's  IIISTOllY  01'  IllELANB.         [ciIAl'.  XL. 

died  Tinder  accumulated  hardships;  and  others  were 
killed  in  fight. 

The  first  day,  they  made  their  way  to  Ballyvoui'ney, 
after  a  journey  of  about  twenty -four  miles  over  the 
mountains.  Here  they  rested  for  the  night.  On  next 
through  Duhallow,  till  they  reached  Liscarroll,  where 
John  BaiTy  of  Buttevant  attacked  their  rear  as  they 
crossed  the  ford,  and  after  an  hour's  fighting  killed  four 
of  their  men,  but  lost  more  than  four  himself.  Skirting 
the  north  base  of  the  Ballahom^a  Mountains,  they 
encamped  one  night  beside  the  old  hill  of  Ardpatrick. 
Their  next  resting-place  was  the  Glen  of  Aherlow, 
where  among  the  vast  solitudes  of  the  Galtys,  they  could 
procure  no  better  food  than  herbs  and  water :  and  the 
night  sentries  found  it  hard  to  perform  their  duty, 
oppressed  as  they  were  with  fatigue  and  hunger.  For 
the  first  part  of  their  journey  they  made  tents  each 
evening  to  sleep  in ;  but  they  were  not  able  to  continue 
this,  so  that  they  had  to  lie  under  the  open  sky,  and 
they  suffered  bitterly  from  the  extreme  cold  of  the 
nights.  J^ext  northwards  from  the  Galtys  across  the 
Golden  Yale,  over  the  great  plain  of  Tipperary,  fighting 
tbsir  way  through  enemies  almost  every  houi\  "VVTiile 
one  detachment  of  the  fighting  men  collected  provisions, 
the  others  remained  with  the  main  body  to  protect  the 
women  and  chikben;  and  the  whole  party  were  preserved 
fi'om  utter  destruction  only  by  the  strict  discipline  main- 
tained by  the  chief. 

0' Sullivan's  wife,  who  accompanied  the  party,  carried 
and  nursed  so  far,  through  all  her  hardships,  her  little 
boy,  a  baby  two  years  old;  but  now  she  had  to  part 
with  him.  She  intrusted  him  to  the  care  of  one  of  her 
faithful  dependents,  who  preserved  and  reared  him  up 
tenderly,  and  afterwards  sent  him  to  Spain  to  the  parents. 


CHAP.  XL.]         EETREAT  OF  o'sULLIYAN  BEARE.  269 

We  are  not  told  how  it  fared  with  this  lady  and  some 
others ;  but  as  they  did  not  arrive  with  the  rest  at  the 
end  of  the  journey,  they  must,  like  many  others,  have 
fallen  behind  during  the  terrible  march,  and  been  cared 
for,  as  they  are  heard  of  afterwards. 

The  ninth  day  of  their  weary  journey  found  them 
beside  the  Shannon  near  Portland  in  the  north  of  Tip- 
perary ;  and  here  they  rested  for  two  nights.  But  their 
enemies  began  to  close  in  on  them  from  the  Tipperary 
side  ;  and  as  there  was  no  time  to  be  lost,  they  prepared 
to  cross  the  broad  river  opposite  the  castle  of  Kiltaroe  or 
Redwood.  Among  them  was  a  man,  Dermot  O'Hoolahan 
by  name,  skilled  in  making  currachs  or  hide-boats 
(p.  34).  Under  his  direction  they  constructed  boat- 
frames  of  boughs,  interwoven  with  osier  twigs  in  the 
usual  way.  They  then  killed  twelve  of  their  horses, 
and  carefully  husbanding  the  flesh  for  food,  they  finished 
their  curraghs  by  covering  the  skeleton  boats  with  the 
skins.  In  these  they  crossed  the  river  ;  though  at  the 
last  moment  their  rearguard  had  a  sharp  conflict  with 
the  sheriif  of  Tipperary,  Donogh  Mac  Egan  the  owner 
of  Eedwood  Castle,  who  with  his  party  came  up,  and  in 
spite  of  0' Sullivan's  earnest  expostulations,  attacked 
them,  and  attempted  to  throw  some  of  the  women  and 
children  into  the  river.  But  0' Sullivan  turned  on  him, 
and  killed  himself  and  many  of  his  men. 

JS'othing  better  awaited  them  on  the  other  side  of  the 
Shannon.  Pushing  on  northwards  through  0' Kelly's 
country,  they  had  to  defend  themselves  in  skirmish  after 
skirmish.  As  most  of  the  horses  had  by  this  time  quite 
broken  down,  0' Sullivan  had  to  abandon  the  wounded 
to  their  certain  fate ;  and  their  despairing  cries  rang 
painfully  in  the  ears  of  the  flying  multitude.  Some- 
times when  they  came  near  a  village,  a  party  were 


270  A  child's  llISTOlll'  OF  lliELAND.         [CHAP.  XL 

despatclied  for  provisions,  who  entered  tlie  houses  and 
seized  everything  in  the  shape  of  food  they  could  lay 
hands  on,  satisfying  their  own  hunger  while  they 
searched,  and  bringing  all  they  could  gather  to  their 
starving  companions.  At  Aughrim  they  were  con- 
fronted by  captain  Henry  Malbie  with  a  force  much 
more  numerous  than  their  own.  0' Sullivan,  addressing 
his  famished  and  desperate  little  band  of  fighting  men 
in  a  few  encouraging  words,  placed  them  so  that  they 
were  protected  on  all  sides  except  the  front,  where  the 
assailants  had  to  advance  on  foot  thi'ough  a  soft  boggy 
pass.  Malbie,  despising  the  fugitives,  sprang  forward 
at  the  head  of  his  followers,  but  fell  dead  at  the  first 
onset.  On  rushed  0' Sullivan  and  his  men  :  it  must  be 
either  victory  or  destruction;  and  after  a  detennined 
and  bitter  fight,  they  scattered  their  assailants,  and 
freed  themselves  from  that  great  and  pressing  danger. 

Onwards  over  Slieve  Mary  near  Castlekelly,  and 
through  the  territory  of  Mac  David  Eurke,  where  the 
people,  headed  by  Mac  David  himself,  harassed  them  all 
day  long  to  prevent  them  from  obtaining  provisions. 
JS'ear  Ballinlough  in  the  west  of  Eoscommon  they  con- 
cealed themselves  in  a  thick  wood,  intending  to  pass  the 
night  there.  But  they  got  no  rest :  for  a  friendly  mes- 
senger came  to  warn  them  that  Mac  David  and  his 
people  were  preparing  to  surround  them  in  the  morning 
and  slay  them  all.  So  they  resumed  their  march  and 
toiled  on  wearily  through  the  night  in  a  tempest  of 
sleet,  splashing  their  way  through  melting  snow,  and  in 
the  morning  found  themselves  pursued  by  Mac  David, 
who  however  was  cowed  by  their  determined  look,  and 
did  not  dare  to  come  to  close  quarters. 

Arriving  at  another  solitary  wood  they  found  the 
people  friendly;  and  they  lighted  fii'es  and  refi'eshed 


CHAP.  XL.]         KETHEAT  OF  o'SULLlTAN  BEAKE. 


271 


themselves.  They  next 
crossed  the  Ciirlieu  Hills 
southwards  to  Knockvicar, 
beside  the  river  Eoyle 
where  it  enters  Lough  Key, 
and  here  they  took  some 
rest.  For  days  past  they 
had  undergone  unspeak- 
able sufferings.  Avoiding 
the  open  roads,  they  had 
to  cross  the  country  by 
rugged,  rocky,  and  unfre- 
quented ways,  walking  all 
the  time,  for  horses  could 
not  be  used.  The  weather 
was  inclement,  snow  fall- 
ing heavily,  so  that  they 
had  sometimes  to  make 
their  way  through  deep 
di'ifts ;  and  many  of  those 
who  continued  able  to  walk 
had  to  carry  some  of  their 
companions  who  were  overcome  by  fatigue  and  sickness. 
Their  hope  all  through  had  been  to  reach  the  territoiy 
of  O'Ruarc  prince  of  Erefney ;  and  next  morning  when 
the  sun  rose  over  Knockvicar,  their  guide  pointed  out  to 
them,  only  five  miles  off,  the  towers  of  one  of  O'Euarc's 
residences,  Leitrim  or  Erefney  Castle.  At  eleven  o'clock 
that  same  day  they  entered  the  hospitable  mansion, 
where  a  kind  welcome  awaited  them.  They  had  set 
out  fi'om  Glengarriff  a  fortnight  before,  one  thousand 
in  number ;  and  that  morning  only  thirty-five  entered 
O'Euarc's  castle: 
vants,  and  one  woman, 


O'Sullivaii  Beare.  From  portrait  in 
Nat.  Gall.,  Dublin,  and  that  from  original 
portrait  in  Irish  College,  Salamanca. 


eighteen  armed   men,   sixteen  ser- 
the  wife  of  the  chief's  uncle. 


272  A  child's  niSTOEY  OF  IKELAND.         [cUAP.  XL. 

Dcrmot  0' Sullivan.  A  few  others  aftei'wards  amved 
in  twos  and  threes ;  all  the  rest  had  either  perished  or 
di'opped  behind  from  fatigue,  sickness,  or  wounds. 
There  is  still  a  village  at  Leitrim ;  but  of  the  castle 
only  a  few  fragments  of  the  walls  remain. 


Signature  of  O'SuIlivan  Beare  in  1601 :  "  Yours  most  faythfull  and  bounden 
Don.  OSulyvan  Beare."    From  Gilbert's  "  Fac-Sim.  Nat.  MSS." 

How  it  fared  with  South  Munster  after  the  capture 
of  Dunboy  may  be  told  in  a  few  words.  Though  the 
province  was  now  quiet  enough,  yet  several  of  the 
rebels  were  still  at  large,  and  there  were  rumours  of 
other  intended  risings.  Against  these  dangers  Carew 
took  precautions  of  a  very  decided  character;  he  had 
the  country  turned  into  a  desert: — "  Hereupon" — says 
Carew — "  Sir  Charles  Wilmot  with  the  English  regi- 
ments overran  all  Beare  and  Bantry,  destroying  all  that 
they  could  find  meet  for  the  relief e  of  men,  so  as  that 
country  was  wholly  wasted.  .  •  .  The  president  there- 
fore [i.e.  Carew  himself],  as  well  to  debarre  those 
straglers  fi'om  releef e  as  to  prevent  all  means  of  succoiu^s 
to  Osulevan  if  hee  should  retui-ne  with  new  forces, 
caused  all  the  county  of  Kerry  and  Desmond,  Beare,' 
Bantry,  and  Carbeiy  to  be  left  absolutely  wasted,  con- 
strayning  all  the  Inhabitants  thereof  to  withdi'aw  their 
Cattle  into  the  East  and  IN'orthern  parts  of  the  County 
of  Corke," 


Composed  from  the  Book  of  Kells. 


CHAPTER  XLI. 


THE      FLIGHT       OF      THE      EAKLS. 


A.  D.  1602-1608.  if^S««'<'-f.°3). 

XJEiNG  tlie  whole  of  the  interval  from  the 
autumn  of  1600  to  the  end  of  1602, 
the  work  of  destroying  crops,  cattle, 
and  homesteads  was  busily  carried  on 
by  ILoimtjoy  and  Carew,  and  by  the 
governors  of  the  garrisons,  who  wasted 
everything  and  made  deserts  for  miles 
round  the  towns  where  they  were  stationed.  We 
have  already  seen  how  thoroughly  this  was  done  in 
Munster  and  Leinster  (pp.  226,  256,  257) :  it  was  now 
the  turn  of  Ulster.  In  June,  1602,  Mountjoy  marched 
north  to  prosecute  the  war  against  the  rebels,  and 
remained  in  Ulster  duiing  the  autumn  and  winter, 
traversing  the  country  in  all  directions,  and  destroying 
the  poor  people's  means  of  subsistence. 

And  now  the  famine,  so  deliberately  planned,  swept 
thi'ough  the  whole  country ;  and  Ulster  was,  if  possible, 
in  a  worse  condition  than  Munster.  For  the  ghastly 
results  of  the  deputy's  cruel  policy  we  have  his  own 
testimony,  as  well  as  that  of  his  secretary,  the  historian 
Moryson.  Mountjoy  writes  : — "  We  have  seen  no  one 
man  in  all  Tyrone  of  late  but  dead  carcases  merely 


274  A  child's  uistory  of  Ireland,     [chap.  xli. 

hunger  starved,  of  which  we  found  divers  as  we  passed. 
Between  TuUaghoge  and  Toome  [seventeen  miles]  there 
lay  unburied  1000  dead,  and  since  our  first  drawing 
this  year  to  Elackwater  there  were  about  3000  starved 
in  Tyrone."  But  this  did  not  satisfy  him ;  for  soon 
after  he  says  : — "  To-morrow  (by  the  gi'ace  of  God)  I 
am  going  into  the  field,  as  near  as  I  can  utterly  to 
waste  the  county  Tyrone."  Next  hear  Moiyson.  ' '  Now 
because  I  have  often  made  mention  formerly  of  our 
destroying  the  rebels'  corn,  and  using  all  means  to 
famish  them,  let  me  by  one  or  two  examples  show  the 
miserable  estate  to  which  the  rebels  were  thereby 
brought."  He  then  gives  some  hideous  details,  which 
show,  if  indeed  showing  was  needed,  that  the  women 
and  children  and  peaceable  people  were  famished  as 
well  as  the  actual  rebels.  And  he  goes  on  to  say : — 
"And  no  spectacle  was  more  frequent  in  the  ditches  of 
towns  than  to  see  multitudes  of  these  poor  people  dead 
with  their  mouths  all  coloiu'ed  green  by  eating  nettles, 
docks,  and  all  things  they  could  rend  up  above  ground." 

O'jS'eill  was  not  able  to  make  any  headway  against 
Mount] oy  and  Docwra,  both  of  whom  continued  to 
plant  garrisons  all  through  the  province.  IV'ith  the 
few  followers  that  remained  to  him,  he  retired  into 
impenetrable  bogs  and  forests ;  and  far  from  taking 
active  measures,  he  had  quite  enough  to  do  to  preseiwe 
himself  and  his  party  from  utter  destruction.  But  he 
refused  to  submit,  still  clinging  fondly  to  the  expecta- 
tion of  help  from  abroad. 

The  news  of  the  death  of  Red  Hugh  O'Donnell 
(p.  261)  crushed  the  last  hopes  of  the  chiefs,  and  Eory 
O'Donnell  and  others  submitted,  and  were  gladly  and 
favourably  received.  O'Neill  himself,  even  in  his 
fallen  state,  was  still  gi'eatly  di-eaded ;  for  the  govern- 


CHAP.  XLI.J  THE  FLIGHT  OF  THE  EAELS.  275 

ment  were  now,  as  they  had  been  for  years,  haunted  by 
the  apprehension  of  another  and  more  powerful  arma- 
ment from  Spain.  At  length  Mount] oy,  authorised  by 
the  queen,  sent  Sir  Garrett  Moore,  O'Neill's  old  friend, 
to  offer  him  life,  liberty,   and  pardon,  with  title  and 

territory ;  and  at  Mellif ont  near  Drogheda, 
A.  D.  1603    a  few  days  after  the  death  of  the  queen, 

the  chief  made  submission  to  the  deputy. 
Soon  afterwards  0']N'eill  and  O'Donnell  went  to  England 
with  Mountjoy.  The  king  receired  them  kindly  and 
graciously ;  confirmed  O'Xeill  in  the  title  of  earl  of 
Tyrone ;  made  Eory  O'Donnell  earl  of  Tirconnell ; 
and  restored  both  to  most  of  their  possessions  and 
privileges. 

Notwithstanding  that  the  earl  of  Tyi'one  had  been 
received  so  graciously  by  the  king,  and  was  now  settled 
down  quietly  as  a  loyal  subject,  yet  he  was  regarded 
with  suspicion  and  hatred  by  the  officials  and  adven- 
turers, who  could  not  endiu^e  to  see  him  restored  to 
rank  and  favoui\  Those  who  had  looked  forward  to 
the  forfeiture  of  his  estates  and  to  the  confiscation  of 
Ulster  were  bitterly  disappointed  when  they  foimd 
themselves  baulked  of  their  expected  prey,  and  they 
determined  to  bring  about  his  ruin.  He  was  now 
constantly  subjected  to  annoyance  and  humiliation, 
and  beset  with  spies,  who  reported  the  most  trivial 
incidents  of  his  everyday  life.  At  the  same  time  the 
earl  of  Tirconnell  was  persecuted  much  in  the  same 
manner. 

At  last  matters  reached  a  crisis.  In  1607  a  false  re- 
port of  a  conspiracy  for  another  rebellion  was  concocted 
and  spread;  and  the  two  earls  were  assured  by  some 
friends  that  it  was  intended  to  arrest  them.  Tp'one 
was  on  a  visit  at  Slane  with  the  deputy,  Sir  Ai'thur 
i2 


276  A  child's  history  of  Ireland.     [cHAr.  xli. 

Chichester,  when  he  heard  of  the  matter,  and,  keeping 
his  mind  to  himself,  he  took  leave  of  his  host  and  went 
to  Sir  Garrett  Moore  of  Mellifont,  wliere  he  remained  for 
a  few  days.  On  a  Sunday  morning,  he  and  his  attendants 
took  horse  for  Dundalk.  He  knew  that  he  was  bidding 
his  old  friend  farewell  for  the  last  time ;  and  Sir 
Garrett,  who  suspected  nothing,  was  sui*prised  to 
observe  that  he  was  unusually  moved,  blessing  each 
member  of  the  household  individually,  and  weeping 
bitterly  at  parting.  He  and  his  party  rode  on  in  haste 
till  they  reached  Kathmullan  on  the  western  shore  of 
Lough  S willy,  where  a  ship  awaited  them.  Here  he  was 
joined  by  the  earl  of  Tirconnell  and  his  family.  The 
total  number  of  exiles  taking  ship  was 
A.D.  160  J  about  one  hundred.  At  midnight  on  the 
14th  of  September  they  embarked,  and 
bidding  farewell  for  ever  to  their  native  count-ry,  they 


Hugh  O'Neill  earl  of  Tyrone.  In.  an  old  work  in  Italian,  "  La  Spada  d'Orione 
Stellata  nel  Cielo  di  Marte,"  by  Daniaschino,  published  in  Rome,  i68o.  is  an 
engraving  of  Hugh  O'Neill,  with  the  inscription,  "  Ugo  Conte  di  Tirone  General 
Ibernese"  ("  Hugh  earl  of  Tyrone,  General  of  the  Irish  ").  This  engraving  has 
been  photographed  for  me,  full  size,  from  a  copy  of  the  book  in  the  British 
Museum  :  photograph  reproduced  here. 

made  for  the  open  sea,  and  landed  in  France,  where 


CUAP.  XLI.]  THP:  flight  OF  THE  EARLS,  277 

they  were  received  with  great  distinction  by  all,  from 
the  king  downwards.  From  France  the  earls  and  their 
families  proceeded  to  Rome,  where  they  took  up  their 
residence,  being  allowed  ample  pensions  by  the  Pope 
and  the  king  of  Spain.  O'Donnell  died  in  the  follow- 
ing year,  1608;  and  O'Neill,  aged,  blind,  and  worn  by 
misfortune  and  disappointment,  died  in  1616. 

The  profound  quiet  that  followed  the  rebellion  was 
suddenly  broken  by  the  hasty  and  reckless  rising  of 
Sir  Caher  O'Doherty.  This  chief,  then  only  twenty- one 
years  of  age,  had  hitherto  been  altogether  on  the  side  of 
the  English ;  and  his  rebellion  was  a  mere  outburst  of 
private  revenge,  having  nothing  noble  or  patriotic  about 
it.  On  one  occasion  he  had  an  altercation  with  Sir 
George  Paulett,  governor  of  Derry,  who  being  a  man 
of  ill-temper,  struck  him  in  the  face.  O'Doherty, 
restraining  himself  for  the  time,  retired  and  concerted 
his  measures  for  vengeance.      He   invited  his   friend 

Captain  Harte,  the  governor  of  Culmore 
A.D.  1608    fort,  to  dinner.    After  dinner  the  governor 

was  treacherously  seized  by  O'Doherty's 
orders,  and  threatened  with  instant  death  if  he  did  not 
surrender  the  fort.  Harte  firmly  refused ;  but  his  wife 
in  her  terror  and  despair,  went  to  the  fort  and  prevailed 
on  the  guards  to  open  the  gates ;  on  which  O'Doherty 
and  his  men  rushed  in  and  immediately  took  possession  ; 
and  having  supplied  himself  with  artillery  and  ammu- 
nition from  the  fort,  he  marched  on  Derry  that  same 
night.  He  took  it  by  surprise,  slew  Paulett,  slaughtered 
the  garrison,  and  sacked  and  burned  the  town.  He 
was  joined  by  several  other  chiefs,  and  held  out  from 
May  to  July,  1608,  when  he  was  shot  dead  near  Kil- 
macrenan  in  a  skirmish  ;  on  which  the  rising  collapsed 
as  suddenly  as  it  had  begun. 


278 


A  child's  nTRTOIlY  OF  TTH'.LA^^D.       [cHAP.  XLI. 


No.  I. 


No.  2. 


No.  3- 


No. 


No. 


No.  b. 


Groups  showing  costumes  A.D.  i6oo.  From  Map  of  Ireland  (published  i6ii)  by  Speed, 
■who  thus  designates  the  three  pairs  of  figures:— I.  "  The  Gentleman  of  Ireland":  2.  "Th^ 
Gentle  Woman  of  Ireland"  {i.e.  persons  belonging  to  the  high  classes):  3.  "The  Civil  1 
Irish  Woman'  :  4.  "  The  Civill  Irish  Man"  (persons  of  the  middle  rank):  5.  "The 
Wilde  Irish  Man  "  :  6.  "  The  ^\'iIde  Irish  Woman  "  (/.  e.  peasants,  whom  the  English 
commonly  designated  "Wild  Irish  '). 


Composed  from  the  Book  of  Kells. 


CHAPTER  XLII. 

THE     PLANTATION"     OF     ULSTER. 
A.D.  1603-1625. -  James  L 

)ET  US  noTV  go  back  a  few  years  in  order  to 
bring  the  history  of  the  religions  question 
abreast  with  our  main  naiTative.  The 
accession  of  James  I.  gave  great  satis- 
faction to  the  Irish,  partly  because  he 
was  descended  in  one  line  from  their 
own  ancient  Milesian  kings  (p.  97),  and  partly  because 
they  believed  that,  though  outwardly  a  Protestant,  he 
was  at  heart  a  Catholic ;  and  they  had  strong  hopes 
that  he  would  restore  their  freedom  of  worship.  But 
they  found  their  mistake  when  the  king,  in  1605, 
caused  to  be  revived  in  Ireland  two  penal  enact- 
ments, which  during  the  late  troubles  had  fallen 
very  much  into  disuse : — those  of  Supremacy  and 
Uniformity.  By  the  Act  of  Supremacy,  it  will  be 
remembered,  no  Catholic,  without  taking  an  oath  that 
the  king  was  spiritual  head  of  the  church,  could  hold 
any  office  under  government,  could  practise  as  a  lawyer, 
act  as  a  magistrate,  be  appointed  judge,  or  take  pos- 
session of  an  estate  to  be  held  fi^om  the  king ;  and  as 
Catholics  could  not  possibly  take  such  an  oath,  they 
were  excluded  fi'om  all  these  offices  wherever  the  act 


280  A  child's  history  of  Ireland,    [chap.  xlii. 

was  enforced.  Ey  the  Act  of  UnifoiTQity  any  Catholic 
might  be  brought  np  and  fined  if  he  absented  himself 
from  Protestant  worship  on  a  Sunday ;  and  in  Dublin 
many  of  those  who  refused  to  attend — "  Recusants  "  as 
they  were  called — were  actually  fined  or  imprisoned. 
But  except  in  or  near  Dublin,  it  was  impossible  to 
carry  out  these  laws,  for  the  people  were  nearly  all 
Catholics.  And  even  in  Dublin,  the  law,  for  the  same 
reason,  could  not  be  enforced  to  any  extent ;  and  num- 
bers of  Catholic  magistrates,  lawyers,  and  government 
officers  went  on  discharging  their  duties  immolested. 

Per  a  long  time  King  James  had  intended,  at  the 
first  opportunity,  to  colonise  a  large  part  of  Ireland 
with  Scotch  and  English  settlers.  He  was  not  deteiTed 
by  the  terrible  evils  that  all  former  attempts  at  planta- 
tion had  brought  on  the  country  ;  and  when  it  became 
known  that  the  earls  of  Tyrone  and  Tirconnell  had 
fled,  he  considered  that  the  proper  time  had  arrived  for 
cariying  out  his  favourite  project.  The  earls  had 
indeed  committed  no  treasonable  or  unlawful  act  by 
leaving  the  country  :  nevertheless  nearly  all  the  fertile 
land  of  six  counties — Donegal,  Deny,  Tyrone,  Armagh, 
Fermanagh,  and  Cavan — amounting  to  more  than  half 
a  million  acres* — was  confiscated  to  the  crown  and 
given   to   settlers.     The  person  to  whom 

A.D.  1608  the  king  intrusted  the  management  of 
the  whole  Plantation  was  the  lord  deputy. 
Sir  Arthui'  Chichester. 

A  great  part  of  the  confiscated  district  was  divided 


*  About  three  quarters  of  a  million  English  acres.  There  were 
bog  and  waste  land  besides  :  the  total  area  of  these  six  counties 
is  about  3|  millions  of  English  acres  ;  so  that  the  waste  land  was 
then  four  times  the  extent  of  the  arable  land. 


CHAP.  XLII.]        THE  PLANTATION  OF  ULSTER.  281 

into  lots  of  2000,  1500,  and  1000  acres.  The  under- 
takers to  whom  the  2000-acre  lots  were  granted  were 
all  Scotch  or  English,  who  were  requii'ed  to  people 
their  land  with  Scotch  and  English  tenants  :  but  no 
Irish.  Those  who  obtained  the  middle-sized  lots  were 
to  be  all  Protestants  who  had  been  in  the  service  of 
the  crown  in  Ireland  dui'ing  the  late  wars — "  servitors," 
as  they  were  called;  and  they  might  take  Scotch, 
English,  or  Irish  tenants,  but  no  Catholics.  The  1000- 
acre  lots  might  be  taken  by  English,  Scotch,  or  Irish 
planters,  who  might  be  either  Protestants  or  Catholics, 
and  the  Catholics  were  not  requii'ed  to  take  the  oath  of 
supremacy.  Vast  tracts  were  given  to  London  com- 
panies of  merchants  or  tradesmen,  and  to  certain  high 
officials ;  all  of  whom,  both  companies  and  individuals, 
were  to  plant  their  districts  with  English  and  Scotch 
Protestant  settlers.  Chichester  had  for  his  share  the 
whole  of  Inishowen,  Sii'  Cahii'  O'Doherty's  territoiy. 
Large  tracts  were  granted  for  religious  and  educational 
purposes,  all  Protestant :  Trinity  College,  Dublin  (which 
had  been  founded  in  1592),  getting  9600  acres. 

Of  the  whole  body  of  old  Irish  proprietors,  only 
286  were  provided  for  :  these  got  58,000  acres — about 
one-ninth  of  the  escheated  lands.  All  the  rest  of  the 
natives  were  ordered  "  to  depart  with  their  goods  and 
chattels  at  or  before  the  fii'st  of  May  next  [1609]  into 
what  other  part  of  the  realm  they  pleased."  But,  as 
Chichester  well  knew,  there  was  really  no  other  part 
of  the  realm  for  them  to  go  to  ;  for  the  people  of  other 
districts  would  naturally  resist  the  encroachment  of 
strangers.  Moreover,  it  was  found  impossible  to  carry 
out  the  order  for  the  removal  of  the  whole  body  of  the 
natives ;  and  nimibers  remained  among  the  new  settlers 
as  mere  laboui'crs  or  tenants  of  small  plots  of  land. 


282  A  cniLD's  msTORY  of  Ireland,    [chap.  xlii. 

As  for  the  rest,  the  greater  number,  instead  of  migi-ating 
to  a  distance,  clung  to  their  native  place,  and  betook 
them  to  the  hills,  glens,  and  bogs,  where  they  eked  out 
a  scanty  subsistence,  with  bitter  feelings  in  their  hearts. 
This  tui'ned  out  the  most  successful  of  all  the  planta- 
tions ;  and  in  a  short  time  vast  numbers  of  English 
Protestants  and  Scotch  Presbyterians  were  settled  on 
the  rich  lowland  farms  all  over  the  confiscated  counties. 


Settlers'  Houses :  on  a  Survey  Map  of  London  Company  of  Drapers 
made  in  1622.     From  Gilbert's  "  Fac-Sim.  Nat.  MSS." 

There  was  no  resistance  of  any  consequence  this  time  -. 
the  native  people,  crushed  and  dispirited  after  the 
calamities  of  the  late  rebellion,  seem  to  have  submitted 
to  their  fate  in  sullen  despair.  But  the  fighting  came 
later  on,  and  in  a  very  di^eadful  form  ;  for  this  planta- 
tion was  one  of  the  main  causes  of  the  Great  Rebellion 
of  1641. 

To  help  to  pay  the  expenses  of  the  plantation,  the 
king  created  the  order  of  "baronets";  who  were  to 

bear  on  theii'  coat  of  arms  the  ''bloody 
A.D.  1611    hand,"  the  badge  of  the  O'lSTeills.     Each 

new  baronet   had   his  title  on  condition 
that  he  maintained  thirty  soldiers  for  three  years,  at 


CHAP.  XLII.]         THE  PLANTATION  OF  ULSTER.  283 

8d.  a  day  each — about  £1095  altogether,  which  repre- 
sents something  like  £10,000  of  our  present  money. 
As  the  title  was  to  be  hereditary,  i.e.  was  to  descend 
from  father  to  son,  it  was  eagerly  sought  after :  but  at 
that  time  there  was  little  honour  in  it ;  for  it  was 
merely  sold  for  money. 

The  lord  deputy  now  resolved  to  summon  a  parlia- 
ment, the  fii'st  held  for  many  years  :  and  in  order  to 
enable  him  to  pass  measures  pleasing  to  the  king,  he 
took  steps  to  have  a  Protestant  majority,  by  creating 
forty  spui'ious  "boroughs,"  nearly  all  among  the 
settlers  of  Ulster  ;  little  hamlets  with  only  a  few  inha- 
bitants, which  really  did  not  deserve  to  be  specially 

represented  in  parliament :  each  to  return 
A.B.  1613     two  members.     There  were  many  violent 

scenes  in  this  parliament ;  for  the  Catho- 
lics, though  in  a  minority,  struggled  hard,  and  not 
altogether  unsuccessfully,  for  their  rights.  Large  sums 
were  voted  for  the  king,  who  was  always  in  want 
of  money :  and  some  old  penal  statutes  against  natives 
of  Irish  blood  were  repealed.  English  law  was  ex- 
tended to  the  whole  of  Ireland,  a  concession  the  Irish 
had  often  previously  asked  for  in  vain  (p.  166),  and 
for  which  James  I.  should  get  full  credit. 

King  James  continued  his  plantations  in  other  parts 
of  the  country  ;  but  instead  of  turning  off  the  people 
openly  as  in  Ulster,  he  adopted  a  more  cunning  plan  : 
he  sent  persons  to  examine  the  titles  of  estates.  These 
managed  to  find  flaws,  or  pretended  flaws,  in  almost  all 
the  titles  they  examined.  If  cases  came  to  trial,  wit- 
nesses and  jui^ors  were  illegally  forced  to  give  evidence 
and  verdicts  in  favour  of  the  king ;  on  which  the 
owners  were  either  turned  out,  or  had  to  pay  the 
king  large  sums  to  be  let  remain.     And  the  country 


284  A  child's  iiistokv  of  iuki-and.    [chap,  xliii. 

swarmed  with  persons  called  ''  Discoverers,"  who  gave 
information  of  any  titles  that  could  be  made  out  faulty ; 
and  who,  in  reward  for  their  crooked  proceedings,  got, 
either  the  estates,  or  part  of  the  money  paid  by  the 
owners  to  buy  themselves  off.  In  consequence  of  these 
iniquitous  law  proceedings,  there  were  several  minor 
plantations  in  different  parts  of  the  coimtry,  especially 
in  Leinster ;  and  great  numbers  of  industrious  comfort- 
able people  were  driven  away  from  their  homes  and 
reduced  to  beggary.  The  whole  country  was  in  a 
miserable  state  of  uncertainty ;  and  no  man  was  sure 
of  his  property  for  a  day. 


CHAPTER    XLIII. 

STEAFFOfiD. 
A.D.  1625-1640. -Charles  I. 

AELY  in  the  year  1625,  in  the  midst  of  all 
the  inquietude  caused  by  the  dishonest 
proceedings  related  at  the  end  of  the  last 
chapter.  King  James  died,  and  was  suc- 
ceeded by  his  son  Charles  I.  This  king 
was  in  perpetual  straits  for  money ;  and 
the  Irish  Catholics  hoped  that  by  granting 
him  subsidies  he  would  have  the  penal  laws  relaxed. 
The  Protestants  also  had  their  troubles,  for  many  of 
them,  like  the  Catholics,  were  threatened  with  the 
loss  of  their  estates  through  the  knaveries  of  the  dis- 
coverers. 

Accordingly   in   this    same    year    (1625)   the    Irish 
gently,  Catholic  and  Protestant,  encouraged  by  Falk- 


CHAP.  XLni.]  STKAFFORi).  285 

land,  tlie  lord  deputy,  offered  to  pay  £120,000  (nearly 
a  million  of  oui'  day)  in  instalments  to  the  king,  who 
agreed  to  grant  certain  concessions  or  "Graces"  as 
they  were  called.  There  were  altogether  fifty-one 
Graces,  of  which  the  two  most  important  were,  that 
land  owners  should  be  reasonably  secm^ed  in  their 
estates  (which  affected  Catholics  and  Protestants  alike), 
and  that  the  Catholics  should  not  be  molested  on  account 
of  theii'  religion.  Eut  the  king,  once  he  had  the  money, 
broke  his  promise,  and  dishonestly  withheld  the  Graces  : 
the  land  titles  were  not  confirmed,  and  the  laws  were 
put  in  force  against  the  Catholics,  who  suffered  bitterly 
for  a  time. 

In  1633  the  king  sent  over  as  deputy,  LordWentworth, 

afterwards  the  earl  of  Strafford,  the  most 
A.D.  1633    despotic  ruler  the  Irish  had  yet  experienced. 

He  adopted  a  new  course  ;  for  he  did  not 
follow  up  the  attempt  to  suppress  the  Catholic  religion : 
this  he  reserved  for  another  opportunity.  His  two  main 
objects  were  to  make  the  king  absolute  master  in 
Ireland,  and  to  raise  money  for  him;  which  he  pui'- 
sued  through  right  and  wrong,  trampling  on  all  that 
crossed  him,  Protestants  and  Catholics  alike.  The 
recusants  were  induced  to  give  him  £20,000  for  the 
king,  on  promise  that  the  penal  statutes  against  them 
should  not  be  enforced ;  and  the  landholders  prevailed 
on  him  to  summon  a  parliament  with  the  object  of 
having  the  Graces  confirmed — for  they  could  not  be 

carried  out  without  the  sanction  of  par- 
A.p.  1634:    liament — paying  at  the  same  time  another 

year's  subsidy.  Accordingly,  parliament 
met  and  passed  subsidies  for  the  king,  amounting  to 
£240,000;  but  Wentworth,  partly  by  bullying  and 
partly  by  trickery,  succeeded   in  evading  the  Graces. 


286  A  child's  HISTOUV  of     IRELAND.     [CHAP.XLIII. 

The  motive  of  all  this  soon  appeared :  for  in  the  fol- 
lowing year  he  proceeded  to  hreak  the  titles  all  over 
Connaught,  on  the  pretence  that  they  had  not  been 
completed  according  to  law ;  so  that  he  confiscated 
nearly  the  whole  province.  There  was  a  regular  trail 
for  each  case ;  and  he  obtained  verdicts  in  all,  for  the 
good  reason  that  he  threatened,  punished,  and  imprisoned 
sheriffs,  juries,  and  lawyers  who  thwarted  him — 
Catholics  and  Protestants  without  distinction.  This 
caused  a  great  outcry  ;  but  he  persisted  in  his  outrageous 
and  reckless  coui-se,  though  admonished  by  his  friends, 
who  saw  dark  clouds  ahead.  There  was  no  use  in 
appealing  against  this  intolerable  tyranny ;  for  his  master 
the  king,  who  was  pursuing  much  the  same  course  in 
England,  supported  him  in  everything.  By  similar 
iniquitous  proceedings  he  confiscated  the  whole  of  Clare 
and  a  large  part  of  Tipperary.  One  main  object  he 
accomplished  all  through ;  for  out  of  every  transaction 
he  made  money  for  the  king.  But  though  Connaught 
was  confiscated  it  was  not  planted  :  Wentworth  feared 
that  any  attempt  to  do  so  would  raise  a  rebellion  :  and 
the  king's  position  in  England  was  now  so  precarious 
that  it  was  thought  better  to  postpone  the  plantation 
to  some  more  favourable  time :  a  time  which  never 
came  for  either  Wentworth  or  the  king. 

At  this  period  there  was  a  floui'ishing  Irish  trade  in 
wool  and  woollen  cloths;  but  "Wentworth  adopted 
measures  that  almost  destroyed  it,  lest  it  should  inter- 
fere with  the  woollen  trade  of  England.  On  the  other 
hand  he  took  means  to  create  a  linen  trade,  which  could 
do  no  harm  in  England ;  and  he  thus  laid  the  founda- 
tion of  what  has  turned  out  a  great  and  flourishing 
industry  in  Ulster. 

Summoning  a  parliament  in   1639,  he  managed  to 


CHAP.  XLIV.J  THE  REBELLION  OF  1641.  287 

obtain  another  supply  for  King  Charles,  who  was  every 
day  getting  himself  more  deeply  in  conflict  with  his  own 
parliament  in  England.  But  with  all  his  tyranny  and 
evil  deeds  A\"entworth  enforced  order,  and  kept  down 
petty  tyrants ;  so  that  there  was  an  increase  of  commerce 
and  of  general  prosperity  during  his  rule.  He  was  now 
made  earl  of  Strafford ;  and  he  raised  an  army  of  9000 
men  in  Ireland,  nearly  all  Catholics,  who  were  well 
drilled  and  well  armed,  intending  them  to  be  employed 
in  the  service  of  the  king.  But  his  career  was  di^awing 
to  a  close.  He  was  recalled  in  1640  to  take  command 
against  the  Scotch  Covenanters.  Soon  afterwards  he 
was  impeached  by  the  English  house  of  commons,  some 
of  the  most  damaging  charges  against  him  coming  from 
Ireland :  and  in  May,  1641,  he  was  beheaded  on  Tower 
HiU. 


CHAPTER  XLiy. 

THE      REBELLION      OF      16  4  1. 
A.D.  I641.-Charles  I. 

HIS  great  and  disastrous  rebellion  was 
brought  about  by  the  measures  taken  to 
extirpate  the  Catholic  religion,  and  by 
the  Plantations,  beginning  with  that  of 
Ulster.  The  religious  hardships  of  the 
Catholics  were  increasing  year  by  year.  The  planta- 
tions went  steadily  on  with  hardly  any  intermission, 
and  it  was  well  known  that  Wentworth's  tyrannical 
proceedings  had  the  full  approval  of  the  king ;  so  that 
it  seemed  plain  to  the  Irish  that  it  was  the  settled 


288  A  guild's  iiistohy  of  Ireland.     Lciiap.  xlit. 

purpose  of  Kiug  Charles  and  his  advisers  to  root 
out  the  whole  native  population  in  order  to  make 
room  for  new  settlers.  Besides  all  this,  the  country- 
swarmed  with  persons  wandering  hopelessly  about  in 
abject  poverty,  who  had  been  di'iven  from  their  homes, 
all  of  whom  longed  for  the  first  opportunity  to  fall  on 
the  settlers  and  regain  their  homesteads  and  fanns.  As 
to  obtaining  redi'ess  by  peaceable  means,  no  one  now 
thought  this  possible  after  the  experience  of  the 
Graces. 

At  last  some  of  the  old  Irish  chiefs  and  gentry  held 
meetings  and  came  to  the  determination  to  obtain  their 
rights  by  insurrection.  The  leading  spirit  was  Roger 
or  Rory  O'Moore  of  Leix,  a  man  of  great  influence  and 
unblemished  character;  and  among  many  others  were 
Sir  Phelim  O'Neill  of  the  family  of  Tyrone,  Lord 
Maguire  of  Fermanagh,  Magennis  of  Iveagh,  O'Eeilly 
of  Brefney,  and  the  Mac  Mahons  of  Oriell. 

They  hoped  for  help  from  abroad ;  for  many  of  their 
exiled  kindi'ed  had  by  this  time  risen  to  positions  of 
great  influence  in  France,  Spain,  and  the  l^etherlands ; 
and  they  sent  to  Owen  Eoe  O'Xeill,  a  soldier  who  had 
greatly  distinguished  himself  in  the  ser^dce  of  Spain, 
nephew  of  the  great  Hugh  O'Neill  earl  of  Tyrone, 
inviting  him  home  to  lead  the  insurgent  army.  He 
replied  ui-ging  an  immediate  rising  and  holding  out 
expectations  of  help  from  France. 

The  23rd  of  October  was  the  day  fixed  on  for  a  simul- 
taneous rising.  Dublin  Castle  with  its  large  store  of 
arms,  and  many  of  the  fortresses  and  garrisons  all  over 
the  country,  were  to  be  seized,  and  the  arms  taken. 
Instructions  were  given  to  make  the  gentry  prisoners, 
but  to  kill  or  injure  no  one  except  in  open  conflict ;  and 
in  general  to  have  as  little  bloodshed  as  possible.     The 


CHAP.  XLIT.]  THE  REBELLION  OF  1641, 


289 


Ulster  settlers  from  Scotland,  being  regarded  as  kinsmen, 
were  not  to  be  molested.  On  the  evening 
A.D.  164:1  of  the  22nd  of  October,  when  the  prepa- 
rations had  been  completed  in  Dublin,  a 
man  named  Owen  0' Connolly,  to  whom  MacMahou 
had  confided  the  secret,  went  to  Sir  William  Parsons, 
one  of  the  Lords  Justices,  and  told  him  of  the  plot. 
Parsons  at  first  gave  no  heed  to  the  story,  for  he  per- 
ceived that  0' Connolly  was  half  di'unk.  But  on  con- 
sultation with  his  colleague  Sii'  John  Borlase,  they 
aiTested  Maguire  and  Mac  Mahon  on  the  morning  of 
the  23rd :  these  were  subsequently  tried  in  London  and 
hanged.  Eory  O'Moora  and  some  others  then  in  Dublin 
escaped.  Instant  measures  were  taken  to  put  the  city 
in  a  state  of  defence. 

But  though  Dublin  was  saved,  the  rising  broke  out 
on  the  23rd  all  through  the  north.  Sir  Phelim  O'JN'eill, 
by   a  treacherous    stratagem,    obtained    possession    of 


Charlemont  Fort.     From  illustration  in  "  Kilkenny  Arclijeological  Journal,"' 
1883-4,  p.  320  :  and  this  from  a  photograph. 

Charlemont  fort;  and  the  rebels  took  iSTewiy,  Dun- 
gannon,  Castleblayney,  and  many  smaller  stations.  Sir 
Phelim  exhibited  a  forged  commission  giving  him  autho- 
rity, which  he  alleged  he  had  received  from  King  Charles, 

V 


290  A   nilLD's  IIISTOKY  OF  IKKLANI).      [CHAl'.  XLIV 

to  wliicli  "svas  fraudulently  attached  the  great  seal  lie 
liad  found  in  one  of  the  castles. 

At  the  end  of  a  week  nearly  all  Ulster  was  in  the 
hands  of  the  rebels,  and  Sir  Phclim  had  an  army  of 
.30,000  men,  armed  with  knives,  pitchforks,  scythes, 
and  every  weapon  they  could  procure.  During  this 
week  the  original  orders  of  the  leaders  were  carried 
out,  and  there  was  hardly  any  bloodshed.  But  Sir 
Phelim,  who  had  none  of  the  great  qualities  of  his 
illustrious  kinsmen,  was  a  bad  general,  and  soon  lost 
all  control  over  his  irregular  army.  Many  of  those 
who  had  risen  up  were  persons  that  had  been  deprived 
of  their  lands,  who  after  a  time  broke  loose  from 
all  discipline,  and  wreaked  their  vengeance  without 
restraint  and  without  mercy  on  the  settlers.  The  country 
farm-houses  all  over  the  settlements  were  attacked  by 
detached  parties,  under  no  orders  and  checked  by  no 
discipline.  Multitudes  were  stripped  and  turned  out 
half  naked  from  house  and  home — old  and  young,  men, 
women,  and  cbildren;  and  buncbeds,  vainly  trying  to 
make  their  way  to  Dublin,  or  to  other  Government 
stations,  perished  by  the  wayside,  of  exposui'e,  hardship, 
and  hunger.  Eut  there  was  even  worse  :  for  numbers 
were  mui'dered,  often  with  great  cruelty.  Some  of 
these  excesses  were  carried  out  by  the  orders  of  O'^N'eill 
himself;  but  the  greatest  number  were  the  acts  of 
irresponsible  persons  taking  vengeance  for  their  own 
private  wi'ongs.  The  outrages  actually  committed  were 
bad  enough ;  but  the  daily  reports  that  reached  England 
magnified  them  tenfold,  and  excited  the  utmost  hon'or 
among  the  English  people. 

During  this  terrible  outbreak  of  fury,  many  Protes- 
tants were  protected  by  individual  Catholics.  The 
priests  exerted  themselves  to  save  life,  often  at  great 


CHAP.  XLIY.]  THE  EEBELLION  OF  1641.  291 

personal  risk,  sometimes  hiding  the  poor  fugitives  under 
the  very  altar  cloths.  The  Protestant  bishop  of  Kilmore, 
Dr.  Bedell,  who  was  very  popular,  was  not  molested ; 
and  many  fugitive  settlers  had  a  safe  asylum  in  his  house. 
The  people  at  last  confined  him  in  Cloghoughter  Castle, 
merely  to  protect  him ;  and  on  his  death  in  February 
1642,  they  attended  his  funeral  in  crowds,  including  a 
large  military  force  sent  by  the  Irish  commanders,  as  a 
mark  of  respect  and  regret. 

The  numbers  of  victims  have  been  by  some  wiiters 
enormously  exaggerated :  but  Dr.  "Warner,  an  English 
writer,  a  Protestant  clergyman,  who  made  every  effort 
to  come  at  the  truth,  believes  that  in  the  first  two  years 
of  the  rebellion,  4000  were  murdered,  and  that  8000 
died  of  ill  usage  and  exposure.  Even  this  estimate  is 
probably  in  excess. 

The  sanguinaiy  Ulster  episode  of  this  memorable  year 
reminds  us  of  what  took  place  on  a  much  larger  scale 
forty  years  before  (pp.  273,  274).  One  was  an  unpre- 
meditated outburst  of  merciless  popular  rage,  resulting 
in  great  suffering  and  loss  of  life  :  the  other  the  slower 
and  siu'er  destruction  of  much  larger  numbers,  by  the 
cool  and  carefully  planned  arrangements  of  Mount  joy. 

Eut  we  must  not  suppose  that  outrages  were  confined 
to  the  rebels.  There  were  wholesale  murders  also  on 
the  other  side ;  and  the  numbers  of  the  Irish  that  were 
killed  all  over  the  country  in  places  where  there  had 
been  no  rising,  far  exceeded  those  of  the  settlers  that 
had  fallen  victims  in  Ulster.  In  November,  the  Scottish 
garrison  of  Carrickfergus  sallied  out  and  slaughtered 
a  great  number  of  harmless  people  in  Island  Magee, 
where  there  had  been  no  disturbance  of  any  kind.  The 
two  lords  justices  sent  parties  of  militaiy  from  Dublin 
through  the  country  all  round,  who  massacred  all  the 
V2 


292  A  cutld's  history  of  ibeland.  [chap.  xliv. 

people  they  met,  whether  engaged  in  rebellion  or  not. 
Their  general,  Sir  Charles  Coote,  committed  honihle 
cruelties,  especially  in  Wicklow,  surpassing  the  worst 
excesses  of  the  rebels,  killing  and  torturing  women  and 
infants,  as  well  as  men.  In  Munster,  8ir  William  St. 
Leger  slaughtered  vast  numbers  of  innocent  persons,  in 
order,  as  he  said,  to  avenge  the  cruelties  committed  in 
Ulster,  and  forced  the  people  of  the  province,  the  Anglo- 
Irish  as  well  as  the  old  Irish  native  race,  to  rise  in 
rebellion,  much  against  their  will. 

Towards  the  end  of  the  year,  the  old  Anglo-Irish 
nobility  and  gentry  of  the  Pale,  who  were  all  Catholics 

and  all  thoroughly  loyal,  were  treated  by 
a.d.  1641    the  two  lords  justices.  Parsons  and  Borlase, 

with  brutal  harshness,  merely  because 
they  were  Catholics.  He  insulted  them  in  every  possi- 
ble way,  and  Coote  burned  many  of  their  houses  :  so 
that  they  were  forced  to  combine  for  their  own  protec- 
tion ;  and  at  last  they  were  driven  to  join  the  ranks  of 
the  insurgents.  There  could  not  have  been  more  unfit 
men  at  the  head  of  affairs  in  this  critical  time  than 
these  lords  justices ;  and  their  conduct  is  condemned  by 
historians  of  all  shades  of  opinion.  In  spite  of  the 
remonstrances  of  their  best  counsellors  they  acted  in 
such  a  manner  as  to  spread  the  trouble  instead  of  allay- 
ing it ;  so  that  in  a  short  time  the  rebellion  had 
extended  thi'ough  all  Ireland. 


Composed  from  tlie  Book  of  Kells. 


CHAPTER   XLY. 


THE     CONFEDEEATION    OF    KILKENNY  :      THE    BATTLE    OF 
BENBrEB. 

A.  D.  1642-1649. -Charles J. 

^T  the  opening  of  1642,  there  were  in  the  dis- 
tracted coimtrj  foiu'  distinct  parties,  each 
with  an  army  : — 

FiEST  :  The  Old  Irish,  whose  leader 
was  Eory  O'Moore.  These  were  oppressed 
by  Plantations  and  by  Eeligioiis  hardships,  and  they 
aimed  at  total  separation  from  England.  Their  army 
was  chiefly  confined  to  L'lster. 

Second  :  The  Old  Anglo-Irish  Catholics,  nearly  all 
of  the  middle  and  south  of  Ireland.  These  siiffered  on 
account  of  their  religion  as  much  as  the  old  Irish; 
and  also  by  the  Plantations,  though  not  to  the  same 
extent;  and  they  wanted  religious  and  civil  liberty, 
but  not  separation  from  England.  These  two  parties 
represented  all  the  Catholics  of  Ireland  :  but  there  was 
much  jealousy  and  distrust  between  them ;  and  this 
disunion  ruined  their  cause  in  the  end. 

Thied  :  The  Puritans,  including  the  Presbyterians 
and  Scots  of  Ulster,  under  general  Mom'O.  At  this 
time  King  Charles  I.  was  getting  deeper  and  deeper 
into  trouble  with  the  parliament  in  England ;    and  of 


294  A  child's  IIISTOKY  OF  IKELAND.      [cHAP.  XLV. 

all  the  Paiiiameutarians,  his  most  determined  and 
successful  enemies  were  the  Covenanters  of  Scotland. 
Moni'o  and  his  army  worked  in  harmony  with  the 
Covenanters:  and  as  they  were  very  hostile  to 
Catholics  and  the  Catholic  religion,  they  were  the 
special  opponents  of  the  old  Irish  party,  with  whom 
they  constantly  came  into  collision  in  Ulster. 

Foueth:  The  Royalist  party,  who  held  Dublin. 
These  were  chiefly  Protestants  of  the  Established 
Church,  who  were  opposed  to  the  Parliamentarians. 
They  were  the  party  of  the  king  ;  and  they  wished  to 
make  it  appear  that  the  Catholics  were  rebels  against 
him. 

The  war  went  on  dming  the  early  part  of  this  year 
with  varying  fortunes ;  sometimes  the  rebels 

A.D.  IG^S  were  victorious,  sometimes  the  Govern- 
ment forces.  In  Ulster  the  rebels  were 
losing  ground,  and  losing  heart,  chiefly  through  the 
incompetency  of  Sir  Phelim  O'Neill,  who  had  no  mili- 
tary knowledge  or  experience.  The  Scottish  army 
there  soon  amounted  to  20,000  men  under  Monro,  who 
plundered  and  spoiled  the  province  with  little  check. 

Owen  Roe  O'Neill  landed  in  Donegal  in  July  1642, 
with  a  single  ship  and  a  hundred  officers,  and  taking 
command  of  the  old  Irish  army  in  place  of  Sir  Phelim, 
immediately  set  about  organising  the  scattered  Irish 
forces.  He  soon  changed  the  whole  aspect  of  affairs. 
He  strongly  denounced  the  past  cruelties,  severely 
punished  the  offenders,  so  far  as  he  was  able  to  reach 
them,  and  set  free  the  Protestant  prisoners,  whom  he 
caused  to  be  escorted  to  a  place  of  safety.  Soon  after- 
wards another  important  leader  landed  on  the  Wexford 
coast  to  join  the  Catholic  party.  Colonel  Preston,  brother 
of  Lord  Gormanstown,  with  500  officers  and  some  stores. 


CHAP.  XLV.J    THE  COI^FEDERATION  OF  KILKENNY. 


295 


He  had  distinguishecl  himself  in  the  wars  on  the 
Continent ;  and  he  now  took  command  of  the  Anglo- 
Irish  Catholic  army. 


/  .■ 


Owea  Roe  O'Neill.    From  engraving  in  "  Lister  Journal  of  Archaeology,"  iv.,  p.  25  : 
and  that  from  an  original  painting  by  Van  Brugens. 

The  two  branches  of  the  Catholics  had  hitherto  acted 
independently  of  one  another,  each  struggling  for  much 
the  same  cause,  but  without  any  unity  of  plan.  But  a 
great  effort  was  now  made  by  the  Catholic  bishops  and 
other  dignitaries  to  bring  these  two  parties  to  act  in 
concert :  and  in  accordance  with  their  aiTangements  a 
general  assembly  or  parliament  of  the  most  distinguished 


296  A  cniLB's  niSTOiiY  or  ikeland.    [chap.  xlv. 

men  of  both  sections,  consisting  of  eleven  bishops,  four- 
teen lay  lords,  and  226  commoners,  met 
A.D.  1643   in  Kilkenny  on  the  24th  October.      This 
is  known  as  the  "  Confederation  of  Kil- 
kenny."    The  Royalist  party  of  Dublin  represented 
them   as   in  rebellion :    but  the   Confederate   leaders 
earnestly  denied  that  they  were  rebels,  and  proclaimed 
themselves  loyal  subjects,  standing  up  for  the  king, 
who,  they  said,  would  do  them  justice  if  the  Puritans 
would  only  let  him  act  freely.      The  assembly,  having 
first  proclaimed  their  loyalty  to  the  king,  took  upon 
themselves  for  the  time  the  government  of  the  country, 
or  of  that  part  of  it  outside  the  influence  of  the  lords  jus- 
tices, and  appointed  generals  over  the  army:  O'Neill  for 
Ulster,  Preston  for  Leinster,  and  two  others  for  Munster 
and  Connaught.    To  manage  affaii's  with  greater  facility 
they  elected  from  their  number  a  "Supreme  Council" 
of   twenty-four,  six  from  each  province.      And   they 
issued  a  decree  for  raising  and  coining  money,  and  for 
levying  men,  who  were  to  be  drilled  by  the  of&cers  that 
had  come  with  O'Neill  and  Preston.     For  some  time 
after  this  the  two   Catholic  parties  worked  in  union; 
and  Owen  Eoe  O'Neill  with  the  Old  Irish  carried  on  the 
war  in  Ulster  against  Moni'o,   and  Preston  with  the 
Anglo-Irish  Catholics  in  Leinster  against  the  Royalists. 
The  king  was  most  anxious  to  come  to  terms  with 
the  Confederates  as  a  help   against  the  English  and 
Scotch  Parliamentarians  ;  and  as  his  two  lords  justices, 
Borlase  and  Parsons,  had  by  underhand  j)ractices  pre- 
vented an  agreement,  he  removed  Porlase 
A.D.  164:4:    and    appointed    James    Butler,    marquis 
(afterwards  duke)  of  Onnond,  lord  lieu- 
tenant, with  full  power  to  offer  satisfactory  terms  to 
the  Confederates.     But  Ormond  was  only  half-hearted 


CHAP.  XLT.]    THE  CO^^FEDEEATION■  OF  KILKENNY.  297 

in  the  business ;  so  the  proceedings  still  cbagged  on  : 
and  besides  this,  the  king  was  a  double-dealer,  ready 
to  promise  anything,  but  intending  to  perform  as 
little  as  possible.  When  accused  by  the  Parliamen- 
tarians of  offering  favourable  terms  to  the  Eoman 
Catholics,  he  openly  denied  that  he  had  done  any  such 
thing.  He  was  in  fact  tiying  to  deceive  both  parties, 
Catholics  and  Parliamentarians. 

"With  the  object  of  more  closely  uniting  the  Old  Irish 

and  Old  English  to  defend  the  Catholic  religion  and  to 

sustain  the  king  against  the  Parliamen- 

A.D.  1645  tarians,  the  Pope  sent  to  the  Confederates, 
as  nuncio,  Ai'chbishop  Baptist  Rinuccini, 
who  brought  them  a  supply  of  money  and  anns.  But 
this  encouragement  was  much  more  than  counter- 
balanced by  the  ever-increasing  fatal  division  in  the 
Confederation.  The  bishops  and  those  who  repre- 
sented the  Old  Irish  party  were  for  carrying  on  the 
war  vigorously,  and  on  their  side  were  Rinuccini 
and  O'jS'eill.  On  the  other  hand  the  Anglo-Irish 
party,  chiefly  consisting  of  the  lay  element,  who  had 
the  majority  in  the  assembly,  were  for  treating  with 
the  Royalists ;  and  following  out  this  line  of  policy, 
they  held  back  military  operations  and  wasted  time  in 
fruitless  negotiations.  To  make  matters  worse  there 
was  bitter  rivalry  between  the  two  generals  :  Preston 
hated  O'T^eill,  and  O'^N^eill  took  no  pains  to  conceal  his 
contempt  for  Preston.  The  Anglo- Irish  party,  through 
mere  jealousy  of  0']N"eill,  the  only  great  soldier  now 
in  Ireland,  refused  to  support  him  with  the  necessary 
supplies,  so  that  for  a  long  time  he  was  imable  to  make 
head  against  Mom-o  in  the  north.  Though  struggling 
against  these  great  difficulties,  he  at  last  succeeded, 
partly  by  means  of  the  money  supplied  by  the  nuncio, 


298  A  child's  histohy  of  ikeland.    [chap.  xlv. 

in  collecting  an  army  of  5000  foot  and  500  liorsc ; 
which  he  kept  stationed  on  the  borders  of  Cavan. 
Meantime  Moni'o,  aware  that  Leinster  was  at  this  time 
almost  unprotected — for  Preston  with  his  army  was  in 
Connaught — made  preparations  to  march  southwards  to 
Kilkenny  to  annihilate  the  small  Confederate  force  left 
there,  and  suppress  the  Confederation  itself.  When 
O'jS'eill  received  intelligence  of  this,  he  broke  up  camp 
and  marched  north  in  the  beginning  of 

A.D.  164:6  June,  determined  to  intercept  him,  and  if 
possible,  to  di'aw  him  into  battle.  Monro 
had  set  out  from  Carrickfergus  with  6000  foot  and  800 
horse  :  and  hearing,  on  amving  near  Armagh,  of 
O'iS'eill's  movement,  he  tui'ned  aside  from  his  coui^se  in 
order  to  crush  the  Irish  army ;  and  he  sent  word  to 
Coleraine  to  his  brother  George  Monro  to  meet  him  at 
Glasslough  in  Monaghan  with  a  reinforcement  of 
cavaliy.  For  he  had  been  warned  to  beware  of 
O'Neill's  consummate  generalship  ;  and  he  was  un- 
willing to  meet  him  except  with  very  superior  numbers. 
But  O'Neill  had  been  too  quick  for  him.  He  amved 
at  Glasslough  before  the  brothers  had  time  to  join  ;  and 
crossing  the  Elackwater  into  Tyrone,  he  encamped  at 
Benburb.  !N"ext  morning,  the  5th  June,  having  fii'st 
sent  two  regiments  north  under  Bernard  Mac  Mahon 
and  Patrick  Mac  JN'eny  to  intercept  George  Monro,  he 
selected  at  his  leisui'e  an  excellent  position  for  battle 
on  the  Blackwater,  between  two  small  hills,  with  a 
wood  in  the  rear.  He  made  seven  divisions  of  his  army, 
placing  foiu'  in  front  with  wide  spaces  between,  and 
three  behind,  so  that  they  could  at  any  time  step  into 
the  spaces.  The  ranks  faced  south-east :  and  in  this 
position  he  awaited  the  approach  of  the  Scottish  anny. 

Early  on  that  same  morning  Monro  marched  fi'om 


CH.iP.  XLX.'j  THE  BATTLE  OF  BENBUEB.  299 

Armagh  towards  Benburb ;  but  finding  the  ford,  now 
crossed  by  Battleford-bridge,  strongly  guarded,  he 
tiu-ned  south-west,  and  crossing  at  Kinard  (now  Cale- 
don)  without  any  opposition,  he  advanced  along  the 
river  towards  the  Irish  army.  O'Xeill  sent  forward 
a  detachment  imder  Colonel  Eichard  O'Fan'ell  to  oppose 
the  advancing  columns  in  a  narrow  defile ;  but  they 
had  to  retreat  before  the  Scottish  artillery.  Ha\dng 
arrived  on  the  ground,  Monro  aiTanged  his  army  in 


Blackwaterlown 


Caledor 


Armagh      jHj 


Plan  of  Battle  of  Benburb. 


nine  divisions,  five  in  front  and  four  behind ;  but  the 
spaces  in  fi^ont  were  too  narrow  to  permit  the  rear 
divisions  to  come  forward.  The  two  armies  now  stood 
face  to  face  ;  but  O'jN'eill,  knowing  that  his  opponents 
were  akeady  wearied  after  their  long  morning's  march, 
skilfully  wasted  the  day  in  light  skirmishes  till  late 
in  the  evening,  when  the  sun  had  come  round  and 
shone  full  in  the  faces  of  the  Scottish  araiy.  "While 
the  skirmishing  was  still  going  on,  and  growing  every 


300  A  child's  iiistoky  of  Ireland.    [cnAr.  xlv. 

moment  more  hot,  a  large  body  of  men  were  seen  in 
the  distance  approacliing  from  the  north,  whom  Monro 
took  to  be  his  brother's  reinforcements  ;  but  they  were 
in  reality  MacMahon's  and  MacNeny's  regiments, 
returning  after  having  scattered  George  Monro's  party. 
"When  at  last  they  were  seen  to  join  the  Irish  army, 
^lonro  became  alarmed  and  prepared  to  retreat.  But 
O'iN'eill  seized  the  moment  for  a  general  assault.  He 
first  moved  forward  the  thi'ee  rear  divisions,  so  as  to 
form  one  continuous  line.  "When  all  was  ready,  he  was 
seen  to  pause  for  a  moment  and  raise  his  hat,  while  his 
lips  moved.  Then  issuing  his  orders,  the  whole  army 
started  forward  and  charged  with  sword  and  pike. 
Twice  did  Monro  attempt  to  stop  the  advance  by 
hiu'ling  against  the  ranks  squacbons  of  cavalry,  which 
in  both  cases  were  cbiven  back  among  his  footmen. 
He  ordered  forward  his  foiu'  rear  detachments  to 
support  the  front  divisions ;  but  there  was  not  suffi- 
cient room  for  this  movement,  so  that  the  ranks  be- 
came closely  packed ;  and  this,  with  the  commingling 
and  furious  prancing  of  the  retreating  cavalry,  caused 
great  disorder.  In  the  midst  of  all  this  confusion, 
while  the  sun  glared  full  in  the  faces  of  the  Scots, 
down  on  them  came  O'Neill's  well-arranged  solid  bat- 
talions. At  once  they  gave  way  before  this  terrible 
onset,  and,  turning  round,  rushed  back  in  utter  rout. 
But  right  in  their  way  flowed  the  river,  deep  and 
rapid  ;  and,  besides  those  slain  in  fight,  vast  numbers 
were  drowned  in  attempting  to  cross,  so  that  the  sui'- 
vivors  were  able  to  pass  over  the  bodies  lying  in  the 
water.  Mom-o  himself  escaped  and  fled  in  panic,  bare- 
headed, leading  on  the  field  his  cloak,  helmet,  and  wig. 
Upwards  of  2000  of  his  army  fell,  while  the  Irish  lost 
only  seventy. 


CHAP.  XLV.J  THE  BATTLE  OF  BENBTJUB.  301 

This  great  victoiy  of  O'Neill,  which  was  quite  as 
brilliant  as  that  of  his  uncle  at  the  Yellow  Ford,  forty- 
eight  years  hefore,  restored  for  a  time  the  influence  of 
the  Old  Irish  party  in  the  Confederation. 

It  became  known  to  the  Confederates  that  Ormond 
had  been  holding  cori'espondence  with  the  Parliamen- 
tarians ;  and  fearing  lest  Dublin  might  be  betrayed, 
they  ordered  O'^N'eill  and  Preston  to  combine  their 
forces  and  attempt  its  captiu'e — a  thing  that  might 
have  been  easily  accomplished ;  for,  though  Ormond 
had  been  making  some  hasty  preparations,  the  defences 
were  veiy  weak.  The  two  annies  had  arrived  within 
a  few  miles  of  the  city ;  but  there  was  delay,  owing 
mainly  to  the  obstruction  of  Preston,  who,  following  up 
the  spirit  of  the  Confederate  majority,  proposed  to  treat 
with  Ormond  instead  of  attacking  the  city  at  once. 
Dimng  this  period  of  hesitation  and  suspicion,  a  trifling 
alarm  occurred,  on  which  both  armies  broke  up  camp 
and  marched  away.  The  end  of  the  matter  was  that 
Oi-mond  delivered  up  Dublin  to  the  Par- 
A.D.  164?'  liamentarians  and  went  to  Prance.  Soon 
afterwards — in  August  of  this  year — 
Preston  was  disastrously  defeated  by  Colonel  Jones,  the 
Parliamentarian  governor  of  Dublin,  between  ''Lynch's 
Knock"  and  Dangan,  near  Summerhill  in  Meath,  with 
a  loss  of  more  than  5000  men ;  and  in  the  same  year 
(1647)  Lord  Inchiquin,  formerly  a  Royalist  but  now 
on  the  side  of  the  Parliament — who  is  known  as  Mui'- 
rogh  the  BiuTier  from  his  merciless  ravages  in  Munster 
— inflicted  quite  as  bad  a  defeat  on  the  Confederate 
army  at  Knocknanuss  near  Mallow,  owing  to  the  inca- 
pacity of  their  commander  Lord  Taaffe. 

After  more  than  a  year's  absence  Onnond  returned 
and  having  resumed  his  place  as  head  of  the  Protestant 


302  A  child's  history  of  IRELAND.      [cHAP.  XLV, 

Eoyalists,  lie  finally  made  peace  with  the  Confederates, 
agreeing  to  .their  main  condition  that  the  laws  against 

Catholics  should  be  repealed ;  and  it  was 
A.D.  164:9    also  stipulated  that  both  the  Confederates 

and  Ormond's  forces  should  combine  and 
act  in  support  of  the  king.  Thus  came  to  a  termination 
a  seven  years'  war  between  the  Confederates  and  the 
Royalists.  Eut  all  this  was  too  late.  Dublin  had  been 
given  up,  and  was  now  in  the  hands  of  the  Parliamen- 
tarians ;  and  about  a  fortnight  after  the  peace  had  been 
signed,  King  Charles  was  beheaded.  In  the  same  year 
(1649)  the  ^N'uncio,  finding  his  mission  a  failure, 
retui-ned  to  Rome. 

The  death  of  the  king  caused  a  counter-movement 
in  Ireland,  and  many  abandoned  the  Parliamentary 
side.  The  Royalist  cause  was  now  favoured,  as  against 
the  English  Parliamentarians,  by  nearly  all  the  Irish 
parties,  including  Ormond,  the  Confederates,  and  the 
Scots  and  Presbyterians  of  Ulster ;  and  they  proclaimed 
the  Prince  of  Wales  king  as  Charles  II.  On  the  side 
of  the  Parliament,  Jones  still  held  Dublin,  and  Sir 
Charles  Coote,  Deny.  Inchiquin — now  again  turned 
royalist — took  fi'om  them  Drogheda,  Dundalk,  IN'ewiy, 
and  Trim  :  and  Ormond,  with  a  view  of  following  up 
Inchiquin' s  successes,  besieged  Dublin  to  recover  what 
he  had  so  easily  given  up  two  years  before.  He 
encamped  at  Rathmines,  but  took  steps  to  move  his 
encampment  towards  the  mouth  of  the  Lifiey,  in  order 
to  stop  supplies  coming  by  sea  to  the  city.     With  this 

object  he  ordered  Major- General  Pui'cell 
A.D.  164:9    to  fortify  the  old  castle  of  Bagot  Rath, 

not  far  from  the  river  mouth,  standing 
on  a  site  then  in  the  open  coimtry,  but  now  occupied 
by  a  part  of  Upper  Baggot-street.    But  before  the  work 


tUAP.  XLVl.] 


ULlVEli  CHUM  \V±;LL. 


aoo 


had  been  even  begun,  Jones  sallied  forth  in  the  night 
of  the  2nd  August,  and  siu^prised,  not  only  Purcell  but 
Ormond  himself,  and  utterly  routed  the  whole  army. 
This  great  disaster,  which  was  due  to  the  dilatori- 
ness  of  Purcell  and  the  bad  generalship  of  Ormond, 
almost  ruined  the  Royalist  cause  in  Ireland. 


CHAPTER    XLYI. 

OLIVEE  CEOMWELL. 
A.D.  1649-1660.— The  Commonwealth  (1649  to  1660). 

Ei^GLANi),   the   Pai'liamentarians,  headed 
by   Cromwell,    were   now  triumphant, 
while  the  great  majority  of  the  Irish 
stood  up  for  King  Charles  II.     There 
was  a  small  party  of  Parliamentarians 
in  Ireland  too,  who  held  Dublin,  Derry, 
and  a  few  other  important  places  ;  and 
in  order  to  finally  crush  the  Royalists 
it  became    necessary   to  reduce   Ireland.      With   this 
object,    Oliver   Cromwell,    as   the  best   and   most  in- 
fluential  of   the    Parliamentarian    generals,    was    ap- 
pointed lord  lieutenant  and  commander  of  the  forces 
in    Ireland,    and    landed    at    Dublin   on 
A.D.  1649  the  14th  August,  with  9000  foot,    4000 
horse,   a   supply   of  military  stores,    and 
£20,000   in   money,    accompanied   by    his   son-in-law 
Ireton   as   second  in  command.      Before   commencing 
his    militaiy    operations,    he    issued    a    proclamation 
against  plunder  and  excesses  of  every  kind,  ordering 


304  A  child's  histoey   ^oieeland.  [chap.  xlti. 

that  all  supplies  taken  from  the  natives  should  be  paid 
for.  He  first  proceeded  figainst  Drogheda,  which  had 
been  garrisoned  by  Ormond  with  3000  troops,  chiefly 
English,  under  Sir  Arthur'  Ashton.  The  walls  were 
battered  with  cannon  for  two  days  till  a  sufficient  breach 
was  made,  when  the  order  was  given  to  storm.  Two 
desperate  attempts  to  enter  were  repulsed ;  but  the  third 
succeeded ;  and  immediately,  on  Cromwell's  order,  a 
general  massacre  was  commenced,  which  lasted  for 
several  days  ;  and  Ashton  and  his  garrison,  with  great 
numbers  of  the  townspeople  were  killed.  About  thirty 
of  the  garrison  who  had  escaped  the  massacre  were 
shipped  o:ff  to  Barbadoes  as  slaves.  After  this.  Trim, 
Dundalk,  Carlingford,  lN"ewiy,  and  several  other  places 
in  the  ]S'orth,  surrendered. 

Cromwell  returned  to  Dublin,  and  marching  south, 
appeared  before  Wexford,  which  was  well  fortified  and 
garrisoned  with  3000  men,  under  the  command  of 
David  Sinnott.  He  began  his  cannonade  on  the  11th 
of  October,  and  when  some  breaches  had  been  made, 
Sinnott  asked  for  a  parley.      But  meantime   Captain 

Stafford,    the   commander   of   the   strong 
A.D.  1649  castle  just  outside  the  walls,  treacherously 

delivered  it  up  to  Cromwell's  troops ; 
which  enabled  a  party  of  the  besiegers  to  get  into  the 
town,  and  open  the  gates.  The  gamson,  finding  they 
were  betrayed,  retreated  to  the  market-place,  where 
they  foimd  the  townspeople  congregated.  Here  they 
defended  themselves  in  desperation  for  an  houi',  but 
were  ovei'powered  by  numbers  ;  and  Cromwell's 
soldiers,  under  his  orders,  killed  garrison  and  towns- 
people without  distinction,  to  the  number  of  2000. 
The  fate  of  Drogheda  and  Wexford  struck  the  Irish 
with   teiTor ;    Cork  and  many  other   southern  towns 


CHAP.  XLTI.]  OLITEH  CROMWELL.  305 

now  yielded  on  mere  summons ;  and  Cromwell  rested 
his  troops  for  a  month  in  mid-winter  at  Youghal. 

In  the  midst  of  all  this  havoc  and  clash  of  war,  Owen 
Eoe  O'Neill,  the  only  commander  in  Ireland  that 
seemed  a  match  for  the  great  parliamentary  general, 
was  struck  down  by  sickness  on  his  way  southward  to 
join  Ormond,  and  died  at  Cloghoughter  castle  in  Cavan 
on  6th  IS'oYember  1649  ;  and  with  him  passed  away 
the  chief  hope  of  the  Royalist  party. 


Signet  of  Owen  Roe  O'Xeill  (from  "  Kilkenny  Archaeological  Journal,"  1858-9,  p.  38) ; 
and  Signature,  five  days  before  liis  death  (Gilbert's  "Fac-Sim.  Nat.  MSS.").  The  signa- 
ture plainly  shows  the  hand  of  death. 

At  the  end  of  January  Cromwell  set  out  to  trarerse 
Munster.  Most  towns  he  came  to  were  given  up  ;  and 
where  there  was  serious  resistance  he  usually  put  the 
garrison  to  the  sword.  At  Clonmel,  which  was  held  by 
Hugh  O'Neill,  Owen  Eoe's  nephew,  he  met  with  the 
most  determined  resistance  he  had  yet  experienced. 
For  a  long  time  all  efforts  to  take  the  town  were  foiled ; 
and  after  a  final  assault  in  the  month  of 

A.D.  1650    May,  he  had  to  withdraw  with  a  loss  of 

2500  of  his  men.      But  O'Neill,  having 

exhausted   his   ammunition,  quietly  withdrew  in  the 

night  with  his  army  to  Waterford;  and  as  Cromwell 

X 


306  A  child's  niSTOKY  OF  IRELAND.    [ciIAr.  XLVI. 

was  not  aware  of  tliis  movemoiit,  the  town  was  able  to 
obtain  favourable  terms  on  surrender. 

In  tbe  nortli  his  generals,  Colonel  Venables  and  Sir 
Charles  Coote — son  of  Sir  Charles  Coote  of  Wicklow 
notoriety  (p.  292) — were  also  very  successful,  capturing 
town  after  town;  and  by  May  the  Parliamentarians 
had  possession  of  the  greater  number  of  the  fortresses  of 
both  JS'orth  and  South.  On  the  surrender  of  Clonmel, 
Cromwell,  seeing  the  country  virtually  subdued,  sailed 
for  England  on  the  29th  May,  after  a  stay  of  nine 
months,  leaving  Ireton  to  finish  the  war.  At  the  very 
time  that  the  Confederates  were  thus  loyally  fighting 
and  suffering  for  Charles,  this  young  king,  who  was 
then  in  Scotland,  repudiated  any  agreement  with  the 
Irish,  in  order  that  he  might  gain  the  favour'  of  the 
Scots,  and  declared  himself  against  allowing  them 
liberty  to  practise  their  religion. 

Ireton  now  turned  his  attention  to  Limerick,  the 
most  important  place  in  possession  of  the  Eoyalists, 
which  was  commanded  by  Hugh  O'Neill,  the  defender 
of  Clonmel.  Ey  forcing  the  passage  of  the  Shannon  at 
O'Erien's  Bridge,  he  got  at  the  Clare  side  of  the  city, 
which  was  now  invested  on  both  sides.  O'l^eill  defended 
the  place  with  great  obstinacy ;  but  there  was  disunion, 
and  he  was  not  supported  by  the  magistrates;  and 
besides,  the  plague  was  raging  among  the  citizens.  At 
length  Colonel  Fennell,  encouraged  by  some  of  the 
officers  of  the  corporation,  betrayed  his 
A.i).  1651  trust  by  opening  St.  John's  gate  to  Ireton, 
who  took  possession  of  the  city  on  the  27th 
of  October.  The  ganison  of  2500  laid  down  their  arms 
and  were  allowed  to  march  away  unmolested.  Ireton 
caused  several  of  the  prominent  defenders  to  be  exe- 
cuted, among  them  Dr.  O'Erien,  Catholic  bishop  of  Emly ; 


CHAP.  XLVI.] 


OLIVER  CROMWELL. 


307 


St.  Joim'b  Gate,  as  at  present :  copied 


a  photograph. 


but  he  himself  died   of   the  plague   within  a  month. 
The  traitor  Fennell  was  hanged  with  the  others,  though 
for  a  different  reason.    After  Ireton's  death,  lieutenant- 
general  Edmund  Ludlow  taking  command, 
A.D.  1652    marched  to  the  aid  of  Coote  at  Galway, 
which  suiTendered  on  the  12th  May,  after 
a  siege  of  nine  months ;    and  the  capture   of   a  few 
detached  castles  completed  the  conquest  of  Ireland  by 
the  Parliamentarians. 

.     _  X  2 


308  A  child's  history  of  IltELANP.    [CHAP.  XLVI. 

Chai'les  Fleetwood,  who  was  Cromwell's  son-in-law — 
having  married  Ircton's  widow — took  command  of  the 
army,  and  was  afterwards  appointed  lord  deputy. 
Under  his  direction  a  High  Court  of  Justice  was  insti- 
tuted in  October,  to  punish  those  who  had  been  con- 
cerned in  the  rising  of  1641  ;  about  200  were  sentenced 
and  hanged,  and  among  them  Sir  Phelim  O'^N'eill.  On 
the  very  scaffold  he  was  offered  pardon  if  he  only  asserted 
that  the  forged  commission  he  exhibited  eleven  years 
before  had  been  really  given  him  by  King  Charles, 
which  would  be  a  sort  of  justification  for  the  king's 
execution ;  but  he  resolutely  refused,  and  died  with 
fortitude  and  Christian  penitence. 

The  war  was  now — 1652 — ended  :  but  for  a  long  time 
there  had  been  a  terrible  pestilence  raging  all  over  the 
country,  which  still  continued.  Famine  came  to  help 
the  work  of  destruction;  and  for  two  or  three  years  these 
two  scoui'ges  spread  death  and  desolation  and  misery 
everywhere.  But  worse  than  even  all  this  was  to  come. 
Cromwell's  soldiers  were  to  be  paid  by  grants  of  confis- 
cated estates  when  the  country  should  be  conquered. 
The  English  parliament  now  professed  to  consider  the 
whole  of  Ireland  forfeited;  and  that  therefore  they 
might  do  as  they  pleased  with  land  and  people.  In 
August  1652,  the  Parliament  passed  an  act  to  dispose 
of  the  Irish.  The  poorer  sort  of  people  of  the  three 
provinces  of  Ulster,  Leinster,  and  Munster — plough- 
men, tradesmen,  laboui^ers,  &c. — were  not  to  be  dis- 
tui'bed;  for  the  settlers  would  need  them  as  mere 
working  men.  All  above  these,  the  gentry  of  every 
class,  whether  Anglo-Irish  or  of  old  native  blood,  were 
ordered  to  transplant  themselves  and  theii^  families 
across  the  Shannon  into  Connaught  and  Clare,  where 
they  were  to  be  given  small  allotments  of  lands  that 


CHAP.  XLVT.]  OLIYER  CROMWELL.  309 

had  been  left  waste.  The  same  edict,  though  mainly 
directed  against  Catholics,  was  not  excliisiyely  confined 
to  them.  Many  Protestants  who  had  fought  against 
the  parliament  were  included  in  the  proscription.  The 
Presbyterians  of  Down  and  Antrim  did  not  escape  scath- 
less,  for  they  had  shown  some  loyalty  to  the  king. 
They  were  to  transplant  themselves,  not  to  Connaught, 
but  to  the  hilly  parts  of  Leinster,  where  poor  little 
plots  of  land  were  assigned  to  them. 

The  Catholic  Irish  were  to  move  to  the  West  by  the 
1st  May  1654 ;  and  any  of  those  ordered  away — ^yoimg 
or  old — men  or  women — foimd  in  any  of  the  three  pro- 
vinces after  that  date,  might  be  killed  by  whoever  met 
them.  Moreover,  they  were  not  permitted  to  live 
within  four  miles  of  the  sea  or  of  any  town,  or  within 
two  miles  of  the  Shannon. 

Those  who  were  forced  to  imdertake  this  terrible 
migration  were  mostly  families  accustomed  to  a  life  of 
easy  comfort.  It  so  happened  that  the  move  had  to  be 
made  chiefly  in  winter,  and  the  season  was  unusually 
wet  and  severe.  The  roads  were  so  bad  as  to  be  almost 
impassable,  for  people  had  something  else  to  do  in  those 
times  besides  attending  to  roads ;  and  as  the  miserable 
crowds  trudged  along,  hundreds  of  women,  children, 
and  feeble  persons  perished  of  want  and  hardship. 

But  great  numbers  of  the  yoimger  men,  instead  of 
migrating,  formed  themselves  into  bands  to  be  avenged 
on  the  new  settlers,  like  the  expelled  natives  of  Queen 
Mary's  time.  These  ''Tories"  and  "Eapparees,"  as 
they  were  called,  gave  great  trouble,  plundering  and 
killing  at  eYe"ry  opportunity :  they  were  hunted  down 
by  the  settlers,  and  neither  gave  nor  received  quarter. 
This  terrible  war  went  on  for  many  years  till  the  tories 
were  in  gi-eat  measiu^e  exterminated. 


310  A  child's  history  of  irelanb.   [chap.  XL VI. 

The  Irish  soldiers  wlio  had  fought  against  the  Parlia- 
ment were  allowed  to  enlist  in  foreign  countries ;  and 
34,000  of  them  emigrated  and  entered  the  service  of 
France,  Spain,  Austria,  and  Venice.  There  were 
widows  and  orphans  everywhere,  and  a  temble  fate 
awaited  these :  they  were  hunted  down  and  brought 
forth  from  their  hiding  places,  and  large  numbers  of 
them,  and  many  men  also,  were  sent  to  the  West 
Indian  Islands  to  be  sold  as  slaves. 

A  new  survey  of  the  country  was  made,  and  the  lands 
were  distributed  to  Cromwell's  soldiers  and  to  those 
who  had  advanced  money  to  carry  on  the  war.  This 
vast  exodus  of  the  native  population  went  on  from 
1652  to  1654.  But  it  was  found  impossible  to  clear 
the  gentry  completely  out  of  the  land.  Many  settled 
in  wild  places ;  many  were  taken  as  under-tenants  on 
their  own  lands;  and  in  coiu'se  of  time  many  inter- 
married with  the  new  settlers.  The  laws  against  the 
Catholic  religion  and  against  Catholic  priests  were  now 
put  in  force  with  unsparing  severity.  But  the  priests 
remained  among  their  flocks,  hiding  in  wild  places  and 
under  various  disguises ;  and  the  Catholic  religion  was 
practised  as  earnestly  and  as  generally  as  ever. 

This  dreadful  Cromwellian  episode  must  be  taken  as 
proceeding,  not  fi'om  the  English  government  or  the 
English  people,  but  fi'om  the  will  of  one  man,  who  then 
ruled  as  despotically  in  England  as  in  Ireland,  though 
not  with  such  cruelty. 


Composed  from  the  Book  of  Kells, 


CHAPTER  XLYII. 


IRELAND    AFTER   THE    RESTORATION. 
A.D.  1660- 


Charles  II.  (to  1685). 
James  II.  (1685-1688). 


HARLEs  THE  Second's  Restoration  (a.d. 
1660)  pleased  tlie  Roman  Catholics 
very  mueli ;  for  as  they  had  fought 
and  suffered  for  his  father  and  for 
himself,  they  natiu'ally  expected  to  be 
reinstated,  at  least  to  a  reasonable  ex- 
tent, in  their  lands,  from  which  they  had  been 
expelled  only  six  or  seven  years  previously.  Without 
any  great  difficulty,  he  could  have  repaired  much  of 
the  injustice  done  to  the  old  inhabitants  while  in- 
flicting no  very  serious  hardship  on  the  new.  But 
the  faithless  king,  while  rewarding  several  leading 
persons  who  had  been  his  bitterest  enemies,  gave 
himself  little  concern  about  those  who  had  befriended 
him  in  his  time  of  need,  either  in  England  or  in 
Ireland;  and  the  Catholics  received  a  scant  measui'e 
of  justice.  The  Irish  parliament,  ha^^ng  considered 
the  claims  of  the  old  and  of  the  new  proprietors, 
passed  what  is  called  the  Act  of  Settlement  (a.d. 
1661),  which  gave  the  new  settlers,  as  a  body,  a  title  to 
their  holdings.     But  those  of  the  dispossessed  Catholic 


312  A  child's  HISTOKY  OF  IRELAND.    [cUAr.  XLVII. 

owners  who  could  ll^o^-e  that  they  were  innocent  of  any 
connexion  with  the  rising  of  1641  were  to  be  restored. 
The  term  "Nocent"  was  used  to  designate  those  who 
had  been  involved  in  the  rebellion  :  "  Innocent,"  those 
who  proved  themselves  free  of  it.  Any  of  the  settlers 
whom  this  new  arrangement  displaced  were  to  be 
"reprised"  by  getting  land  elsewhere. 

To  try  these  numerous  cases  a  ''Court  of  Claims" 
was  established.  But  before  this  court  had 
A.D.  1663  been  long  at  work,  it  was  found  that  almost 
all  who  came  before  it  to  be  tried  were  able 
to  prove  themselves  "  Innocent" — a  result  quite  unex- 
pected; so  that  the  settlers  became  greatly  alarmed, 
and  many  threatened  to  rise  in  rebellion.  Thi'ough 
their  influence  a  stop  was  put  to  the  proceedings,  and  a 
new  act  was  passed,  known  as  the  "Act  of  Explana- 
tion" (1665),  under  which  the  settlers  agreed  to  give  up 
one-third  of  their  possessions.  Eut  this  did  not  afford 
nearly  enough  for  all  those  who  were  able  to  make  good 
their  claim  to  be  restored,  and  for  those  of  the  settlers 
who  were  to  be  reprised :  and  to  make  matters  worse, 
the  king  gave  immense  grants  to  his  relatives  and  to 
other  favoui'ed  persons  having  no  claim  of  any  kind, 
which  greatly  lessened  the  available  land. 

After  much  wrangling,  lasting  over  some  years, 
matters  were  adjusted ;  and  it  came  to  this,  that  whereas 
before  the  Settlement  the  Catholics  possessed  two-thirds 
of  all  the  arable  land  (the  remaining  third  being  held 
by  Protestants  of  the  Plantation  times  of  Elizabeth  and 
James),  after  the  time  of  this  final  arrangement  they 
had  only  one-thii'd,  while  two-thirds  remained  with  the 
Protestants.  There  remained  a  large  proportion  of  the 
Catholics  who  were  not  restored;  most  of  them  dis- 
possessed persons  whose  cases  were  not  heard  at  all,  on 


CHAP.  XL VII.  j    ICELAND  AJ-TEK  THE  KESTOKATION.  313 

account  of  the  stoppage  of  the  Court  of  Claims. 
T^umbers  of  these  held  on  in  their  poor  homes  in 
Connaught ;  and  some,  having  no  implements  or  stock 
or  capital  to  start  them  in  their  new  life,  sank  into 
hopeless  povei-ty  and  perished  of  privation.  It  was 
quite  usual  to  see,  all  over  the  countiy,  gentlemen, 
only  recently  the  possessors  of  large  estates,  going  about, 
ragged,  barefoot,  and  hungry,  begging  for  food.  As  to 
the  new  settlers  and  their  childi'en,  the  majority,  like 
those  of  earlier  times,  became  gradually  absorbed  by 
intermarriage  among  the  natives,  and  in  half  a  centuiy 
had  to  a  great  extent  adopted  their  language,  religion, 
and  habits. 

At  the  time  of  the  Eestoration  the  population  of 
Ireland  was  about  1,100,000;  of  whom  800,000  were 
Roman  Catholics — including  the  old  English  who  were 
nearly  all  Catholics;  100,000  were  Protestants  of 
the  Established  Chui'ch;  and  200,000  Non-conforming 
Protestants,*  of  whom  one-half  (100,000)  were  Presby- 
terians. All  sections  of  Protestants  were  alike  hostile 
to  the  Poman  Catholics.  Dimng  the  Parliamentary 
sway  the  jS'on-confonnists  had  the  upper  hand,  and  the 
Established  Chui'ch  was  repressed,  and  its  clergy 
removed,  though  beyond  this  neither  clergy  nor  people 
suffered  much;  while  still  stronger  measui'es,  as  we 
have  seen,  were  taken  against  the  Roman  Catholics. 
One  of  the  first  acts  of  Charles  II.  was  to  restore  the 
Established  Chui'ch  in  Ireland;   and  the  bishops  and 


*  Non-conformists,  as  the  term  is  generally  applied,  are  those 
Protestants  who  do  not  conform  to  the  doctrine,  worship,  or 
government  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church :  such  as  Pres- 
byterians, Methodists,  &c.  They  have  their  own  forms  of 
worship,  their  own  clergy,  and  their  own  churches. 


314  A  child's  history  of  IRELAND.    [CHAP.  XLYII. 

ministers  returned  to  their  dioceses  and  parishes,  all 
being  provided  with  good  incomes.  But  as  the  lay 
members  of  this  church  •were  so  few,  most  ministers 
had  very  small  flocks,  and  very  many  none  at  all. 
This  restoration  of  the  church  was  bitterly  resented  by 
the  Non-conformists,  who  greatly  disliked  government 
by  bishops. 

After  this,  the  Act  of  Uniformity  was  brought  to  bear 
chiefly  on  the  Presbyterians,  although  they  had  helped 
to  restore  the  king;  and  they  now  suffered  a  sharp, 
though  short,  persecution :  for  nearly  all  determinedly 
refused  to  comply  with  the  requirements  of  the  act. 
They  were  forbidden  to  hold  their  customary  kirk 
meetings  or  sessions ;  their  clergy  were  fined  or  sent  to 
jail  for  not  conforming ;  and  in  the  end,  nearly  all  were 
expelled  from  their  ministry  and  their  homes,  because 
they  would  not  submit  to  be  ordained  by  the  bishop 
while  some  were  altogether  banished  from  the  country. 
But  most  held  their  ground,  living  in  the  old  neighboui'- 
hood  as  best  they  could,  and  secretly  kept  religion  alive 
among  their  flocks.  A  large  number  of  the  lay  mem- 
bers— sober,  industrious,  and  peaceful  people — unwilling 
to  live  in  a  country  where  they  were  not  peimitted  to 
practice  their  religion,  sold  their  property  and  emi- 
grated to  the  Puritan  colonies  of  'New  England.  But 
by  unyielding  firmness  the  Presbyterians  at  length 
obtained  toleration  and  justice. 

While  the  Presbyterians  were  su:ffering,  the  Catholics 
were  treated  with  some  leniency  by  Ormond,  now  lord 
lieutenant,  through  the  interference  of  the  king,  who 
was  at  heart  a  Catholic.  Ormond  however  soon  resumed 
his  severities;  whereupon  the  king  removed  him  in 
1669,  and  appointed  others  more  pliant.  This  was 
followed  by  renewed  severities  against  the  Kon-con- 


CHAP.  XLVII.]    IKELAND  AFTER  THE  IIESTORATION.  315 

formists,    and   by   fiu'ther   toleration   for   the   Roman 
Catholics. 

Eiit  the  leniency  experienced  by  the  Catholics  was  of 
short  duration.  It  was  known  that  the  king's  brother 
James  duke  of  York  (subsequently  King  James  II.) 
was  a  Catholic.  It  had  become  pretty  generally  believed 
too  that  the  king  himself  was  a  Catholic ;  and  reports 
went  abroad  that  he  was  conspiring  to  restore  the 
Catholic  religion  over  the  Three  Kingdoms.     Hatters 

were  brought  to   a   crisis  by   the   Titus 
A.D.  1678    Gates  plot  in  England,  which  was  an  e^dl 

tiu'H  for  the  Irish  Roman  Catholics ;  for 
now  there  were  all  sorts  of  wild  unfounded  rumoui^s  of 
their  wicked  intentions  towards  Protestants.  Measures 
of  extraordinary  severity — proclamations  in  quick  suc- 
cession— were  brought  into  play,  and  the  Catholics  now 
passed  through  a  period  of  great  suffering.  Several 
innocent  persons  were  arrested  and  imprisoned  :  and 
Dr.  Oliver  Plunkett  archbishop  of  Armagh,  a  man  of 
spotless  character,  respected  equally  by  Protestants  and 
CathoHcs,  was  brought  to  London,  where  in  1681,  he 
was  tried  and  executed  on  a  false  charge. 

James  II.,  who  was  a  Roman  Catholic,  succeeded 
his  brother  Charles  in  1685,  and  his  accession  gave 
great  joy  to  the  Catholics  of  Ireland,  and  corresponding 
alarm  to  the  Protestants.     He   soon   entered  on   the 

dangerous  task  of  restoring  the  Catholic 
A.D.  1685    religion  in  both  countries,  and  entered  on  it 

in  a  manner  so  openly  offensive,  harsh,  and 
illegal,  that  the  whole  Protestant  population  rose  up 
against  him.  Colonel  Richard  Talbot,  a  strict  Catholic, 
of  a  disposition  over-zealous  and  imprudent,  was  sent 
to  Ireland  as  commander  of  the  forces,  and  was  created 
earl   of   Tirconnell.     As   a  sort  of   set-off,  the   king 


316  A  child's  niSTORT  OF  IRELAND.    [CHAP.  XLVTI. 

appointed  his  own  brothor-in-law,  lord  Clarendon,  who 
was  a  Protestant,  lord  lieutenant  in  place  of  Ormond. 
But  Clarendon  was  a  mere  shadow ;  Tirconnell  was  the 
real  ruler ;  and  one  of  his  fii'st  acts  was  to  disarm  the 
militia,  who  were  all  Protestants.  He  disbanded 
thousands  of  Protestant  soldiers  and  officers,  and  replaced 
them  with  Catholics.  Most  of  the  Protestant  officers 
went  to  Holland,  and  were  provided  for  by  William 
prince  of  Orange,  under  whom  they  afterwards  fought 
against  King  James  in  Ireland.  Tirconnell  also  appointed 
Catholic  judges,  sheriffs,  and  magistrates,  making  room 
for  them  when  necessary  by  the  removal  of  Protestants. 
He  made  an  attempt  to  have  the  Act  of  Settlement 
repealed :  but  in  this  he  failed. 

At  length  Clarendon  was  removed  and  Tirconnell  was 
appointed  lord  lieutenant  to  rule  Ireland  (1687),  which 
created  quite  a  panic  among  the  Protestants  all  over  the 
country,  so  that  hundreds  fled  from  their  homes  to 
England  and  elsewhere.  Ulster  especially  was  in  a 
miserable  state  of  inquietude  :  Protestants  and  Catho- 
lics looked  on  each  other  with  suspicion  and  fear ;  the 
memories  of  the  mutual  cruelties  of  1641  were  revived 
and  exaggerated ;  and  terrific  rumours  ran  rife  of  in- 
tended mui'ders  and  massacres.  In  the  midst  of  all 
these   alarms  in  Ireland,   William  prince  of   Orange, 

whose  wife  was  King  James's  daughter 
A.D.  1688    Mary,    landed    in   England   on   the    5  th 

ISTovember  to  claim  the  throne ;  and  King 
James,  deserted  by  numbers  of  his  officers,  who  went 
over  to  William's  army,  fled  to  France  in  December,  in 
haste,  secrecy,  and  abject  terror. 

IN'early  all  the  people  of  England  were  Protestants, 
who,  after  the  experience  of  James's  recent  proceedings, 
came  to  the  detennination  to  have  a  Protestant  king; 


CHAP.  XLVIII.]    THE  SIEGE  OF  DEREr. PARTI,  317 

and  they  allowed  "W^illiam  to  take  possession  without 
opposition.  In  Ireland  the  vast  majority  of  the  people 
were  Catholics,  who  did  not  want  a  Protestant  king. 
They  stood  up  for  King  James,  so  that  William  had  to 
fight  for  Ireland ;  and  thus  hegan  the  war  between  the 
two  kings,  known  as  the  War  of  the  Revolution; 
which  will  be  related  in  the  next  seven  chapters. 


CHAPTER  XLYIII. 

THE    SIEGE    OF    DEEEY. PAET    I. 

A.D.  1688-1689.— William  and  Mary. 

EEi]s^G  the  tm-n  things  had  taken  in  England, 
Tirconnell  adopted  immediate  measui'es 
to  secui'e  Ireland  for  King  James.  He 
raised  a  large  irregular  untrained  aiTtiy  of 
Catholics,  and  took  possession  of  the  most 
important  places  all  thi'ough  the  countiy, 
garrisoning  them  with  Jacobite^'  troops. 
In  the  south,  where  the  Protestants  were 
few,  there  was  little  or  no  resistance  ;  but  it  was 
otherwise  in  Ulster,  where  the  people  of  two  important 
centres.  Deny  and  Enniskillen,  refused  to  admit  his 
garrisons  ;  and  several  other  towns  yielded  only 
through  force.  Deny  was  then  a  small  town,  nearly 
in  the  form  of  an  oblong  half  a  mile  in  length,  stand- 
ing on  a  hill  rising  over  the  left  or  Donegal  bank 
of  the  river  Foyle,  four  miles  from  its  mouth.     It  was 


*  The  adherents  of  the  Stuarts  were  known  as  Jacobites,  from 
Jacobus,  the  Latin  form  of  Janies. 


318 


A  child's  niSTOIiY  OF  IRELAND.    [CHAr.  XLTIII. 


encompassed  by  a  wall,  and  communication  was  kept 
up  with  the  opposite  or  eastern  side  by  a  ferry;  for 
there  was  no  bridge.  It  was,  says  one  of  the  historians 
of  that  period,  "  a  town  of  small  importance,  but  made 
famous  by  the  defence  it  made  now,  and  the  conse- 
quences which  that  defence  had  upon  the  futui'e 
operations  of  the  war." 


Plan  of  Derry  and  its  neighbourhood  during  the  siege.      Constructed  from 
contemporary  Plan  in  Harris's  "  Life  of  William  III."    I,  I,  I,  Irish  army. 

The   excitement  among  the  Protestants  of  Ireland 
caused  by  the  proceedings  of  Tirconnell,  as  described  in 


CHAP.  XL VIII.]    THE  SIEGE  OF  DERRT. PART  I.  319 

the  last  chapter,  continued  to  increase.  But  the  terror 
was  hrought  to  a  climax  by  an  anonymous  letter  written 
by  some  mischievous  person  to  a  Protestant  gentleman 
of  the  county  Down,  stating  that  the  Catholics  had 
arranged  to  fall  on  the  Protestants  and  kill  them,  man, 

woman,  and  child,  on  the  following  Sun- 
A.D.  1688    day  the  9th  December.      Copies  of  this 

letter  were  instantly  despatched  all  over 
the  country,  which  set  the  poor  people  in  a  frenzy ; 
for  in  their  flight  they  believed  everything,  and  they 
thought  that  the  scenes  of  1641  were  now  about  to  be 
repeated.  iN'umbers  fled  on  board  ships.  Many  of  those 
in  the  Leinster  counties  turned  their  steps  towards 
Ulster,  suffering  incredible  hardships  on  the  joiumey ; 
while  those  who  could  not  leave  home  barricaded 
themselves  in  their  houses,  expecting  in  trembling 
anxiety  to  be  attacked  at  any  moment  by  their  Catholic 
neighbours.  The  9th  of  December  came,  and  few  Pro- 
testants in  any  part  of  Ireland  went  to  bed  on  that 
miserable  night.  But  it  passed  away  without  the  least 
distiu'bance  anywhere  :  even  the  most  unprotected  Pro- 
testant families  experienced  nothing  but  the  usual 
neighbourly  intercourse  from  the  Catholics  among  whom 
they  lived.  For  the  letter  was  a  wicked  hoax,  and  the 
whole  story  was  a  pure  invention.  But  it  took  several 
weeks  to  calm  down  the  fears  of  the  Protestant  people. 
Let  us  now  see  how  matters  had  been  going  on  in 
Deny  during  this  time  of  alarm.  On  the  very  day — 
Friday  the  7th  December — when  the  contents  of  the 
anonymous  letter  had  been  made  known  in  the  city, 
word  was  brought  that  Alexander  Mac  Donnell,  earl  of 
Antrim,  with  the  Jacobite  army,  was  approaching  from 
Coleraine  to  demand  possession.  This  news  caused 
immense  commotion.      The  aldermen  and  magistrates 


320  A  child's  history  of  IRELAND.    [CHAP.  XLVIII. 

were  in  great  doubt  whether  they  should  open  the 
gates,  or  embark  on  a  course  of  resistance  that  seemed 
desperate.  Eut  the  humbler  classes  were  in  no  doubt 
at  all :  they  had  their  minds  made  up :  for  they 
believed  the  whole  proceeding  was  merely  a  trap  to 
secui'e  their  destruction  all  the  more  easily  on  the  next 
day  but  one  :  and  they  clamoured  to  have  the  gates 
shut.  At  last  the  army  appeared  in  view  at  Water- 
side on  the  far  bank  of  the  river ;  and  a  small  party 
crossing  in  the  ferryboat,  presented  themselves  at  the 
ferry  gate  and  demanded  admittance.  While  the 
authorities  were  debating  excitedly  what  was  best  to 
be  done,  a  few  of  the  bolder  young  apprentices,  seizing 
the  keys,  and  arming  themselves  with  swords,  slammed 
and  locked  the  gate  and  shut  out  the  Jacobite  party. 
They  were  joined  by  the  crowd,  and  the  authorities, 
sorely  frightened  at  the  grave  and  dangerous  act  of 
rebellion,  were  forced  to  yield :  on  which  the  party 
recrossed  the  ferry,  and  the  Jacobite  army  marched 
back  to  Coleraine.  Then,  in  order  to  make  matters 
doubly  safe  in  Deny  for  the  next  Sunday,  all  the 
Catholic  inhabitants  were  sent  away. 

When  Sunday  had  passed  by  harmlessly  the  citizens 
consented  to  negotiate  ;  and  they  ultimately  agreed, 
on  condition  of  obtaining  pardon  for  the  rebellious 
shutting  of  the  gates,  to  admit  two  companies  of 
the  Jacobite  army,  who,  it  was  stipulated,  were  to  be 
all  Protestants  to  a  man.  and  who  were  under  the 
command  of  Colonel  Lundy.  ^Tiereupon  Lundy  was 
appointed  governor.  Eut  as  Tirconnell  continued 
openly  to  dismiss  and  disarm  Protestants  wherever  he 
could,  the  Protestant  gentry  of  Ulster  began  to  arm 
and  prepare  for  resistance.  IN'ot  long  afterwards  came 
news  from  England,  of  William's  successful  progress. 


CHAP.  XLTIII.]     THE  SIEGE  OF  DEERT. PART  I.  321 

followed  by  a  letter  from  himself,  encouraging  the 
northern  people  to  continue  their  measui'es  of  resist- 
ance, and  promising  to  send  them  help.  And  now  the 
citizens  of  Deny,  who  had  closed  their  gates  through 
terror  of  being  slaughtered,  determined  once  for  all  to 
hold  the  city  for  William :  and  they  renounced  their 
allegiance  to  King  James,  and  publicly  proclaimed 
William  and  Mary  as  their  sovereigns.  Lundy  took 
the  oath  of  allegiance  to  William,  with  the  others,  but 
he  did  so  with  evident  reluctance  and  not  in  public. 

When  King  James  heard  of  Tirconnell's  active  pro- 
ceedings, and  found  that  his  cause  had  been  taken  up  in 
the  greater  part  of  the  country,  he  mustered 
A.D.  1689  up  coui^age  and  sailed  for  Ireland,  landing  at 
Kinsale  on  the  12  th  March  with  a  number 
of  French  officers  and  Irish  refugees,  and  a  supply  of 
money,  arms,  and  ammunition,  furnished  by  King 
Louis  of  France :  but  beyond  that,  with  no  aimy 
properly  so  called.  The  commander  of  the  expedition 
was  a  French  general.  Marshal  Rosen.  Among  the 
Irish  who  accompanied  the  king,  the  most  distinguished 
was  Patrick  Sarsfield,  afterwards  earl  of  Lucan  :  a 
great  soldier  and  an  honoiu'able  high-minded  gentle- 
man, who  was  quite  as  much  respected  by  his  oppon- 
ents as  by  his  own  party.  He  was  descended  on  his 
father's  side  from  one  of  those  nobles  who  had  come  to 
Ireland  with  Heniy  II.,  and  on  his  mother's  fi'om 
the  O'Moores  of  Leix  :  and  he  was  at  this  time  about 
thii^ty- eight  years  of  age.  His  personal  appearance 
corresponded  with  his  character,  for  he  had  a  noble 
countenance,  and  stood  over  six  feet  high,  straight  and 
well  proportioned.     (For  portrait,  see  p.  351). 

The  king  amved  in  Dublin  on  the  24th  March ;  and 

Y 


IV22  A  child's  nisToifY  of  iheland.    [citap.  xltiii. 

having  created  Tirconncll  a  duke,  he  came  to  the 
determination  to  proceed  to  Ulster ;  for  he  was  told 
that  he  had  only  to  present  himself  at  Deny,  and 
the  gates  would  he  thrown  open  to  him.  Some 
short  time  pre^nously.  General  Hamilton  had  heen  sent 
northwards  by  Tirconncll  to  reduce  Ulster  to  obedience  : 
and  as  he  advanced,  the  Protestant  people  retreated 
from  point  to  point,  breaking  down  the  bridges,  burning 
the  ferryboats,  and  wasting  and  destroying  everything 
as  they  went  along,  till  they  arrived  at  Deny,  where 
they  found  refuge. 

The  king  now  set  out  for  the  North ;  and  after  a 
miserable  joui^ney  through  a  desolated  country,  he 
joined  his  army  under  Hamilton  a  few  miles  south  of 
Derry.  Lundy,  who  was  only  half-hearted  in  the  new 
cause,  was  all  for  surrendering  the  town :  for  he  did 
not  believe  that  it  could  be  successfully  defended. 
Moreover,  although  its  governor,  he  remained  quite 
passive ;  and  any  preparations  for  defence  that  were 
made,  were  made  by  others. 

On  the  14th  April,  while  James  and  his  army  were 

approaching,  some  ships  sent  from  England 

A.D.  1689   arrived    in   Lough   Foyle,    bringing   two 

regiments  under  the  command  of  Colonel 

Cunningham,  to  reinforce  the  gamson  ;  but  Lundy  and 

some  others  persuaded  them  to  withdi^aw,  representing 

that  the  town  could  not  possibly  hold  out.     And  most 

of  the  leading  men  of  the    city,  and   nearly  all   the 

officers  of  the  garrison  went  on  board  the  ships  and 

sailed  for   England   with    Cunningham.      ^Tien    the 

report  of  these  transactions  got  abroad,   the  citizens 

began  to  suspect  that  Lundy  was  dealing  treacherously 

with   them,    and   they  became   so   enraged  that  they 

threatened  to  shoot  or  hang  him. 


CHAP.  XLVin.]     THE  SIEGE  OF  DEKRY. PART  I.  323 

Meantime  the  army  appeared  in  view  at  the  south  of 
the  town;  and  the  inhabitants  met  to  consider  what 
was  to  be  done.  There  was  great  hesitation  and  differ- 
ence of  opinion,  with  much  uproar  and  confusion ;  and 
we  are  told  that  ''while  some  were  framing  terms  of 
suiTcnder,  others  were  placing  guns  on  the  wall  for 
defence."  Most  of  the  authorities,  with  the  governor 
at  their  head,  were  inclined  to  yield,  while  the  populace, 
who  had  possession  of  the  walls  and  gates,  were  all  for 
fighting.  The  king  approached  the  south  gate  with 
his  staff,  expecting  to  see  it  fly  open ;  but  instead  of  a 
greeting  he  heard  a  fierce  shout  of  "  l^o  surrender," 
and  a  volley  was  filled  fi'om  one  of  the  bastions  which 
killed  an  officer  by  his  side  ;  on  which  he  immediately 
retired  out  of  range.  But  negotiations  still  went  on, 
and  Lundy  and  a  section  of  the  magistrates  endeavoured 
to  bring  about  a  surrender.  They  probably  would  have 
succeeded  but  for  the  timely  arrival  of  Adam  MiuTay, 
well  known  as  a  brave  and  energetic  man,  with  a  small 
party  of  horse.  The  people  at  once  chose  him  as  their 
leader,  and  the  project  for  suiTcnder  was  instantly 
stopped.  The  popular  rage  against  Lundy  now  became 
ungovernable,  and  he  was  obliged  to  hide  himself  till 
night  came  on,  when  he  passed  through  the  streets 
disguised  as  a  porter,  with  a  load  on  his  back,  and  made 
his  escape  over  the  wall.  ^Tiereupon  Major  Eaker 
and  the  Rev.  George  Walker  were  chosen  as  governors 
by  the  townsmen. 

The  die  was  now  cast,  and  it  was  resolved  to  defend 
the  city  to  the  last.  It  was  badly  prepared  to  stand  a 
siege;  for  Lundy  had  done  all  he  could  in  a  quiet 
sort  of  way  to  obstruct  the  preparations  for  defence. 
The  walls  were  not  very  strong;  the  bastions  had  in 
many  places  fallen  into  ruin ;  and  there  was  only  a  poor 
y2 


324  A  guild's  history  of  TEELAND.     [chap.  XLVIll. 

supply  of  artillery.  Those  who  undertook  the  defence 
were  merely  the  common  working  people  ;  for  with  the 
connivance  of  Lundy  and  Cunningham  the  town  had 
been  deserted  by  most  of  the  leading  men.  They  were 
unaccustomed  to  discipline,  and  quite  unused  to  fighting; 
and  besides,  they  were  not  well  supplied  with  arms. 
They  had  no  military  officers,  no  engineers  to  direct 
operations;  for  MuiTay,  though  able  and  daring,  was 
imskilled  in  the  art  of  siege  defence.  And  what  in- 
creased the  difficulties  tenfold  was  that  there  were 
crowded  into  the  town  thousands  of  refugees  fi'om  the 
surrounding  country,  who  had  to  be  fed,  while  the 
stock  of  provisions  was  alarmingly  small,  and  it  was 
hard  to  obtain  supplies. 

But  with  all  these  discoui'agements,  the  determina- 
tion of  the  Derry  people  remained  unshaken.  Under 
Murray's  directions  they  formed  themselves  into  com- 
panies and  regiments,  appointed  officers  to  command 
them,  took  their  turns  at  guarding  and  fighting,  obeyed 
the  orders  of  their  newly  appointed  commanders,  and 
faced  dangers  and  hardships  with  the  utmost  docility  and 
cheerfulness.  AVhen  all  arrangements  had  been  com- 
pleted it  was  found  that  there  were  about  7000  fighting 
men,  led  by  340  officers — eight  regiments  in  all,  each 
under  a  colonel.  The  men  worked  incessantly  strength- 
ening the  defences.  Two  guns  were  planted  on  the  flat 
roof  of  the  cathedi-al,  which  greatly  annoyed  the  sui'- 
rounding  Jacobite  detachments  during  the  whole  siege  : 
and  at  every  gate  was  placed  a  gun  which  commanded 
the  approach. 

As  to  King  James :  when  he  found  all  his  proposals 
rejected  he  returned  to  Dublin,  leaving  the  direction 
of  the  siege  to  the  French  General  Maumont,  with 
Hamilton  second  in  command.    He  summoned  a  parlia- 


CHAP.  XLVIII.]     THE  SIEGE  OP  DERRY. PART  I. 


325 


ment  in  Dublin,  at  which  a  number  of  measures  were 
hastily  passed.  It  was  ordained  that  there  should  be 
full  freedom  of  worship  for  all  religious  denominations ; 
a  measui'e,  which  though  in  a  great  degi'ee  dictated  by 
mere  prudence,  was  creditable  in  that  period  of  religious 
intolerance.  The  Act  of  Settlement  (p.  3 1 1 )  was  repealed, 
which  meant  that  the  new  settlers  would  have  to  restore 
the  lands  to  the  old  owners,  but  with  compensation  when 
necessary.  More  than  2000  persons  were  attainted,  and 
their  lands  declared  confiscated,  for  having  joined  the 
prince  of  Orange :  an  Act  that  has  earned  much  blame 
for  this  parliament.  But  all  this  actiye  legislation 
came  to  nothing ;  for  before  there  was  time  to  enforce 
it,  King  James  and  his  govemment  were  superseded. 
To  meet  current  expenses  a  tax  was  levied  on  estates. 
But  as  this  was  not  enough,  the  king  issued  base  coins 
to  the  amount  of  nearly  £1,000,000,  the  real  value  of 
which  was  not  more  than  about  £60,000  :  the  actual 
value  of  the  £5  piece  was  only  foui'  pence.  The  issue 
of  this  "brass  money,"  as  it  was  called,  gi^eatly  dis- 
an'anged  trade,  and  reduced  many  to  poverty :  and  after 
about  two  years,  Tii'connell,  finding  the  measui'e  a  failui'e, 
recalled  the  coins. 


A  Coin  of  James's  base  Money.     From  "  Kilkenny  Archaeological  JournaL' 


Sculpture  on  Chancel  Arch,  Monastery  Church,  Glendalough,  1845. 
From  Petrie's  '  Round  Towers." 


CHAPTER  XLIX. 


THE     SIEGE     OF     DEIIRY. PART    II. 


A.D.  1689.— William  and  Mary. 

ET  US  now  return  to  Deny.  On  the  18th 
April,  1689,  the  siege  began  in  good 
earnest,  and  from  that  day  forward  was 
carried  on  with  great  energy.  In  the  last 
chapter  the  disadvantages  under  which 
the  besieged  laboured  have  been  set 
forth.  Eut  in  one  important  respect  the 
besiegers  were  much  worse  off  :  namely, 
in  the  supply  of  war  materials.  By  some 
unaccountable  negligence,  a  large  part  of  the  aims 
supplied  to  them  were  damaged  and  useless ;  the 
majority  of  the  men  had  no  swords  or  belts ;  and  whole 
regiments  had  been  sent  from  Dublin  without  ammuni- 
tion. This  fully  explains  the  fact  that  in  almost  all 
the  encounters  during  the  siege,  the  Irish,  though  fight- 
ing with  unfailing  bravery,  lost  greater  numbers  than 
their  opponents  ;  and  the  wonder  is  that  they  had  the 
spirit  to  fight  at  all  under  the  circumstances.  There 
were  no  sufficient  means  of  moving  the  artillery  fi'om 
place  to  place ;  and  the  Jacobite  army  was  scattered 
over  so  large  a  space  as  to  weaken  it  greatly.  More- 
over, the  gi'eater  part  of  the  army  consisted  of  men  who 


CHAP.  XLIX.]     THE  SIEGE  OF  DEEEY. PART  11. 


327 


had  been  recruited  only  within  the  last  few  months, 
wholly  undisciplined  and  quite  unused  to  arms  and  to 
fighting.  Both  parties  were  badly  prepared,  the  one 
to  cany  on  a  siege,  the  other  to  resist  it.  But  there 
was  one  all-important  difference :  the  besiegers  had  a 
fair,  though  not  a  sufficient  supply  of  food,  while  the 
defenders,  towards  the  end  of  the  siege,  had  to  fight 
while  starvins:. 


Derry  in  1840.    From  Wright's  "  Ireland  Illustrated." 

Maumont  and  Hamilton  felt  assured  that  the  town 
would  yield  to  the  first  serious  attack,  and  they  began 
their  work  vigorously.  The  walls  and  town  were  bat- 
tered, many  houses  were  demolished,  while  others  took 
fii'e,  and  everywhere  in  the  streets  people  were  struck 
down  by  balls  or  crushed  by  falling  walls  and  chimneys. 
But  the  greater  the  danger  and  distress  the  higher 
seemed  to  rise  the  spirit  of  the  people.  Religious 
enthusiasm,  too,  came  to  their  aid,  animating  them  in 
fighting  and  helping  to  sustain  them  in  their  privations. 


328  A  child's  histohy  of  Ireland,    [chap.  xlix. 

Anglicans  and  Dissenters  attended  at  tlie  same  cliurch 
at  different  hours  of  the  day,  when  their  turn  off  mili- 
tary duty  came  round  ;  and  the  clergy  of  each  denomi- 
nation conducted  divine  service  and  preached  to  their 
respective  congregations.  Among  the  most  active  was 
the  Rev.  George  Walker,  who  kept  constantly  exhoit- 
ing  the  people  during  the  siege,  from  both  pulpit  and 
rampart. 


Bishop's  Gate,  Derry,  from  which  the  Garrison  usually  made  their  sallies. 
From  Mrs.  Hall's  "Ireland." 

On  the  21st  April,  MuiTay  made  a  sally  towards 
Pennybum  Mill  with  a  party  of  horse  and  foot;  but 
they  were  received  with  great  detennination  by  the 
Irish,  and  after  a  long  and  furious  struggle  had  to 
withdi-aw,  MuiTay  barely  escaping  with  his  life.  Yet 
the  besiegers  suffered  severely  in  this  fight ;  for  they 
lost  200  men,  and  their  general  Maumont  was  killed 
by  MuiTay  in  a  personal  encounter.  Hamilton  then 
took  the  chief  command. 


CHAP.  XLIX.]     THE  SIEGE  OF  DEERY. PAET  If.  329 

Dui'ing  May  and  June  the  fighting  went  on ;  sallies 
and  attempts  to  storm ;  desperate  conflicts  and  great 
loss  of  life  ;  both  parties  fighting  with  equal  obstinacy. 
There  was  an  important  fort  at  a  place  called  Windmill 
Hill  near  the  southern  gate  (the  site  of  which  is  now  occu- 
pied by  the  Casino) ;  if  that  were  taken  it  would  help 
to  open  the  way  to  the  town ;  and  Hamilton  detennined 
to  attempt  its  captiu-e,  for  which  a  large  detachment 
of  horse  and  foot  were  told  off.  On  the  4th  June  the 
attacking  party  advanced  with  a  great  shout,  each  man 
bringing  a  faggot  to  fill  up  the  outer  ditch  of  the  fort. 
The  Derrymen,  with  as  much  military  forethought  as 
if  they  had  been  soldiers  all  their  lives,  had  aiTanged 
themselves  in  thi'ee  ranks  on  the  walls :  when  the  front 
rank  discharged  their  muskets  they  filed  to  the  rear, 
while  the  next  rank  stepped  to  the  front  and  fired ;  and 
so  on  during  the  whole  attack.  Thus  the  assailants 
were  met  by  a  continuous  fii'e,  which  greatly  astonished 
and  disconcerted  them ;  for  they  had  expected  just  a 
single  volley,  and  intended  then  to  make  a  dash  for  the 
wall.  Yet  they  pressed  on  to  the  trench ;  but  the  wall 
was  so  high  that  they  were  unable  to  get  to  the  top. 
Finding  themselves  foiled,  some  of  them  ran  round  to 
the  back  of  the  fort,  and  in  the  most  daring  manner 
attempted  to  enter ;  but  here  they  met  a  like  reception, 
some  being  shot  down,  while  many  were  pulled  over 
the  walls  by  the  hair  of  the  head,  and  retained  as 
prisoners.  The  horse,  under  Captain  Butler,  advanced 
boldly  to  the  attack  on  the  river  side  :  but  they  were 
met  just  as  boldly  half-way  on  the  strand — the  tide 
being  out — by  a  party  issuing  forth  fi^om  the  shelter  of 
the  redoubts,  who,  falling  unexpectedly  on  them  with 
muskets,  pikes,  and  scythes,  di'ove  the  main  body  back 
in  spite  of  all  efforts.     A  small  party,  however,  with 


330  A  child'b  niSTOiiY  of  ikeland.     [cuap.  xlix. 

Captain  Butler  at  their  head,  forced  their  way,  with 
great  determination,  to  the  wall,  which  was  low  at 
that  part,  and  putting  spm-s  to  their  horses,  attempted 
to  leap  over.  The  captain  was  the  only  one  who  suc- 
ceeded in  getting  in,  and  he  was  at  once  taken  prisoner : 
the  others  were  either  killed  or  driven  back. 

In  the  midst  of  all  the  din  and  danger  of  these  several 
fights,  the  women  assisted  with  great  spirit  and  energy. 
''At  this  attack,"  says  the  Eev.  John  MacKenzie,  a 
Presbyterian  minister  who  was  in  the  town  dui'ing  the 
siege,  and  who  has  left  a  diary  of  what  he  witnessed  : 
*'  At  this  attack  on  the  Windmill  fort  our  women  did 
good  service,  carrying  ammunition,  match  [for  the  guns], 
bread,  and  drink  to  our  men,  and  assisted  to  veiy  good 
purpose  at  the  bog  side  [of  the  fort]  in  beating  off  the 
grenadiers  with  stones  who  came  so  near  to  our  lines." 
At  length  the  assailants  were  forced  to  retire,  after 
losing  400  men,  with  Captain  Eutler  taken  prisoner. 
This  was  the  most  important  fight  of  the  whole  siege, 
and  the  Derrymen  were  greatly  encouraged  by  the 
result. 

After  this  repulse,  a  terrible  fire  of  bombs,  great  and 
small,  was  kept  up  on  the  town  for  several  days,  doing 
immense  damage.  "They  plowed  up  our  streets," 
says  the  Eev.  George  Walker,  who  has  left  another 
diary  of  the  siege,  "  and  broke  down  our  Houses,  so 
that  there  was  no  passing  the  Streets  nor  staying  within 
Doors,  but  all  flock  to  the  Walls  and  the  remotest  Parts 
of  the  Town,  where  we  continued  very  safe,  while  many 
of  our  Sick  were  killed,  being  not  able  to  leave  their 
Houses."  A  great  many  of  the  women  and  chikben 
who  were  forced  to  sleep  out  in  this  manner,  under 
shelter  of  walls,  died  from  diseases  brought  on  by 
exposure. 


CHAP.  XLIX.]     THE  SIEGE  OF  DEERY. PART  II.  331 

Seeing  all  active  efforts  foiled,  Hamilton  resolved  to 
tui'n  the  siege  into  a  blockade,  and  starve  the  garrison 
to  surrender.  On  the  land  side  he  had  the  town  quite 
surrounded,  and  every  entrance  strictly  guarded ;  so 
that  the  townsmen  found  it  impossible  to  hold  any 
communication  with  the  outside,  or  to  obtain  any 
supplies.  Their  hopes  now  lay  in  help  from  England 
— the  help  that  William  had  promised.  Every  day 
watchmen  took  station  on  the  church  tower,  anxiously 
looking  out  to  sea  for  relief ;  and  at  length,  in  the 
middle  of  June,  they  shouted  down  the  joyous  news 
that  thirty  ships  were  sailing  up  Lough  Foyle.  Signals 
were  made  from  masthead  and  steeple,  but  were  not 
understood  by  either  side  ;  till  at  last  a  bold  volunteer 
made  his  way,  at  great  risk,  through  the  Jacobite  out- 
posts, to  Waterside  on  the  eastern  bank,  and  swam 
across  the  river,  bringing  news  that  deliverance  was  at 
hand,  for  that  Major- General  Kirke,  the  commander  of 
the  fleet,  had  come  to  relieve  the  town.  But  the  hope  was 
short-lived ;  for  Kirke,  having  sailed  as  far  as  Culmore 
fort  at  the  mouth  of  the  Foyle,  which  was  held  by  the 
Jacobites,  was  afraid  to  enter  the  river,  as  he  had  heard 
of  the  forts  bristling  with  guns  that  lined  both  banks 
all  the  way  up ;  and  the  hearts  of  the  townsmen  sank 
when  they  beheld  the  whole  fleet  retiring  and  taking 
station  outside  the  Lough.  Yet,  dui'ing  all  this  time 
of  miserable  suspense  and  suffering,  they  never  relaxed 
their  vigilance,  but  kept  working  incessantly,  repairing 
the  old  fortifications  and  constructing  new  ones ;  while 
the  women  eveiywhere  encoui^aged  the  men  and  bore 
hardship  and  hunger  uncomplainingly. 

In  order  to  make  it  impossible  for  the  ships  to  bring 
relief,  Hamilton  now  caused  a  great  boom  to  be  made 
of  strong  cables  and  timber  logs,  more  than  a  quarter  of 


332  A  child's  nisToiiY  of  Ireland,  [chap.  xlix. 

a  mile  long,  and  stretched  tightly  across  the  river 
two  miles  below  the  town,  strengthening  it  by  huge 
stakes  driven  into  the  river-bed  and  by  boats  full  of 
stones  sunk  to  the  bottom  beside  them.  *'  This,"  says 
Walker,  ''did  much  trouble  us,  and  scarce  left  us  any 
hopes."  The  strict  blockade  told  at  last.  Provisions 
began  to  run  short  among  people  of  all  classes.  The 
weather  was  excessively  hot,  and  hunger  was  followed 
by  disease  and  many  deaths.  They  buried  fifteen 
officers  in  one  day  ;  and  their  governor  Baker  died,  and 
was  succeeded  by  another  brave  man,  Captain  Mitchel- 
burn.  They  had  no  boats ;  for  those  persons  who  had 
left  the  town  in  the  beginning  carried  them  all  away. 
They  built  up  a  rough  one,  however,  and  a  little  party 
of  venturous  rowers  attempted  to  reach  the  fleet  with  an 
account  of  their  sad  condition  ;  but  the  crew,  not  being 
able  to  endui'e  the  showers  of  shot  from  both  sides,  had 
to  retui-n. 

Towards  the  end  of  June,  King  James,  growing  im- 
patient at  the  length  of  the  siege,  sent  Marshal  Eosen 
to  take  command,  with  instructions  to  adopt  more  vigo- 
rous measures.  This  new  commander  invested  the  place 
still  more  closely  and  made  many  fuiious  assaults :  but 
all  in  vain ;  the  defenders  were  as  determined  as  ever, 
and  repelled  all  his  attacks.  Becoming  furious  at  last 
at  the  obstinate  and  prolonged  defence,  Rosen  resorted 
to  an  inhuman  plan  to  force  suiTender.  Sending  out 
a  number  of  small  military  parties  who  traversed  the 
country  in  all  directions  under  officers,  he  had  the 
Protestant  inhabitants  of  the  surrounding  district,  men, 
women,  and  childi'en,  to  the  number  of  more  than  a 
thousand,  gathered  together ;  and  ha\dng  driven  them, 
on  the  2nd  July,  to  the  open  space  between  his  army 
and  the  walls,  he  left  them  there  huddled  together  in 


CHAP.  XLIX.]     THE  SIEGE  OF  DEERY. PAET  H.  333 

miserable  plight,  without  food  or  shelter ;  and  he  sent 
word  that  there  they  should  remain  to  die  of  stai^ation 
and  exposui-e,  or  be  admitted  inside  the  gates  to  help  to 
consume  the  small  supply  of  provisions  remaining,  unless 
the  town  was  surrendered. 

But  this  savage  device  produced  results  the  very 
reverse  of  what  Eosen  intended.  These  poor  hunted 
people,  far  from  craving  relief,  called  out  to  the  men 
on  the  bastions  to  continue  their  defence  bravely,  and 
not  to  think  of  yielding  on  account  of  those  under 
the  walls.  The  pitiful  sight  and  the  wailings  of  the 
women  and  childi-en  excited  the  townsmen  to  fuiy ;  in- 
stant death  was  denounced  against  anyone  who  should 
breathe  the  word  "SuiTender";  and  they  resolved  on 
a  terrible  measui^e  of  retaliation.  At  this  time  there 
were  in  the  town  many  Irish  prisoners,  some  of  them 
men  of  rank,  who  had  been  captured  during  the  several 
conflicts ;  and  the  townsmen,  erecting  a  great  gallows 
on  the  ramparts  in  full  view  of  the  besiegers,  sent  back 
a  message  that  they  would  hang  their  prisoners,  every 
man,  next  day,  unless  the  country  people  were  set  fi'ee. 
At  the  same  time  these  condemned  prisoners,  being  per- 
mitted to  write  to  Hamilton,  besought  him  to  save  them 
by  inducing  Rosen  to  let  the  poor  people  go: — "We 
are  all  willing  to  die,"  they  say,  "  sword  in  hand  for 
his  majesty  [King  James] ;  but  to  suffer  like  male- 
factors is  hard  :  nor  can  we  lay  our  blood  to  the  charge 
of  the  garrison,  the  governor  and  the  rest  having  used 
and  treated  us  with  all  civility  imaginable."  At  last 
Rosen  becoming  alaiTaed,  permitted  the  people  to  depart: 
and  it  is  pleasant  to  have  to  record  that  he  supplied 
them  with  food  and  some  money.  But  numbers  had 
died  duiing  their  miserable  sojoui-n  of  two  days  and 
two  nights.     The  gamson    gained  somewhat  by  this 


334  A  child's  IIISTOKV  of  IRELAND.    [cHAP.  XLTX. 

piece  of  cruelty ;  for  they  managed  to  smuggle  among 
the  departing  crowd  several  hundred  old  and  useless 
people ;  while  some  strong  men  slipped  into  the  town 
to  recruit  the  fighting  ranks.  Yet  some  of  those  that 
came  out  were  detected  by  theii'  ragged  clothes  and 
hunger-pinched  faces,  and  were  sent  back  to  the 
town. 

It  must  in  justice  be  recorded  that  Bosen  alone  was 
responsible  for  this  barbarous  proceeding.  Hamilton 
was  greatly  pained,  but  could  do  nothing.  King  James, 
when  he  came  to  hear  of  it,  expressed  his  strong  dis- 
approval and  indignation,  and  recalled  Rosen,  leaving 
Hamilton  in  chief  command.  The  Irish  officers  carried 
out  the  cruel  orders  with  the  utmost  unwillingness,  but 
they  had  to  obey.  Many  wept  at  the  sight  of  the 
miseries  they  were  forced  to  inflict ;  and  long  afterwards 
some  of  them  declared  that  the  cries  of  the  women  and 
children  still  rang  in  their  ears."^ 

Meantime  Xirke  made  no  move.  For  more  than  six 
weeks  he  lay  idle,  with  abundance  of  food  stowed  away 
in  his  ships,  though  he  could  plainly  see  the  signal  of 
distress  flying  from  the  cathedi^al  steeple ;  while  the 
townspeople  were  famishing,  driven  to  eat  horseflesh, 
dogs,  grease,  and  garbage  of  every  kind.  The  garrison 
fared   no   better.      Yet   these   brave   fellows — ragged 


*  In  connexion  with  this,  it  is  proper  to  remark  that,  though 
during  tlie  time  of  the  siege  the  Catholic  people  and  the 
Catholic  armies  had  the  whole  of  Ulster,  except  two  or  three 
small  districts,  at  their  mercy,  they  did  not  misuse  their  power 
by  killing,  or  plundering,  or  otherwise  ill-treating  the  Protestant 
people  :  and  "in  many  instances  the  Jacobite  army  treated  Pro- 
testants who  fell  into  their  hands  with  courtesy  and  kindness." 
(From  "  Derry  and  Enniskillen"  by  Witherow,  who  gives  many 
instances — pp.  316-321.) 


CHAP.  XI.IX.]     THE  SIEGE  OF  DERRY. PART  II.  335 

and  starving  —  stood  resolutely  to  theii*  posts,  and 
uttered  no  word  of  complaint.  But  with  all  this 
constancy,  hunger  and  disease  were  playing  sad  havoc 
with  the  cooped-up  people,  and  must  before  many  days 
bring  about  what  force  failed  to  accomplish.  Walker 
gives  a  long  list  of  the  prices  fetched  by  provisions 
towards  the  end  of  July.  Horseflesh  sold  for  I*.  Sd. 
a  pound  (about  10s.  of  our  money) :  a  dog's  head,  2s.  6d. 
[1 5s.  now) :  a  pound  of  tallow,  4s.  (24s.  now) :  and  so 
on.  Pancakes  made  of  starch  and  tallow  were  a  f avoui-ite 
luxury ;  for  they  were  not  only  food,  but  were  found 
to  be  medicine  against  some  diseases.  Walker  tells, 
by  way  of  a  grim  joke,  how  a  certain  very  fat  gentle- 
man, as  he  walked  one  day  near  the  bastions,  fancying 
that  several  of  the  gamson  were  looking  at  him  intently 
with  hungry  eyes,  got  so  fi-ightened  that  he  made 
straight  for  home,  and  hid  himself  in  his  house  for  three 
days.  Compare  all  this  with  the  abundance  of  only 
three  months  before,  when,  as  we  are  told,  a  salmon 
two  feet  long  could  be  bought  for  two  pence,  25  eggs 
for  a  penny,  and  a  fat  goose  for  three  pence.  To  add 
to  the  trials  of  the  besieged,  there  arose  from  time  to 
time  among  a  section  of  the  people,  a  good  deal  of 
impatience  and  insubordination,  and  proposals  for  sur- 
render :  and  scarce  a  day  passed  without  some  deserters 
escaping  and  bringing  news  of  their  condition  to  the 
Irish  camp. 

At  last,  as  matters  seemed  hopeless,  for  a  large  pro- 
portion of  the  fighting  men  had  perished,  and  num- 
bers of  women  and  chikben  were  dying  daily,  the 
townspeople  consented  to  negotiate.  The  gamson 
offered  to  yield  the  town  on  certain  conditions,  one  of 
which  was  that  they  should  be  permitted  to  depart  in 
any  direction  they  pleased,  every  man  fully  aimed ;  but 


336  A   CHTLd's  mSTOKY  OF  TRKLANl).      [cnAP.  XLIX. 

Hamilton  lost  his  chance  by  refusing,  and  the  struggle 
was  re-commenced.  The  walls  wore  again  battered  and 
the  assaults  were  delivered  if  possible  more  vigorously 
than  before ;  but  the  defenders,  though  tottering  with 
weakness,  and  sometimes  falling  with  the  mere  effort 
of  striking,  successfully  repelled  every  attack.  Their 
cannon  balls  ran  out,  and  to  supply  the  want,  they  made 
balls  of  brick  covered  with  lead,  which  answered  the 
purpose  very  well. 

On  the  evening  of  Sunday  the  28th  July,  when 
silence,  gloom,  and  despair  had  settled  down  on  the 
town,  the  watchers,  as  they  gazed  despondingly  over 
the  waters,  saw  three  ships  from  the  fleet  approaching 
the  mouth  of  the  river.  For  Kirke,  having,  as  some  say, 
received  a  peremptoiy  order  from  England,  had  at  last 
taken  heart  and  sent  relief.  A  tremendous  fire  was 
opened  from  the  fort  of  Culmore,  and  fi'om  both  banks 
all  the  way  up,  which  the  ships  vigorously  retui'ned  as 
they  sailed  along.  When  the  townspeople  heard  the 
roar  of  artillery,  a  hungry  crowd  rushed  to  the  battle- 
ments; and  while  they  strained  their  eyes,  breathless 
and  anxious,  the  foremost  ship,  the  "  Mount]  oy,"  struck 
the  boom,  but  rebounded  from  it  and  ran  aground. 
Instantly  the  besiegers,  with  a  mighty  shout,  sprang  to 
their  boats  or  plunged  into  the  water  to  board  her; 
and  the  multitude  on  the  walls,  who  could  see  nothing 
for  the  smoke  and  darkness,  heard  the  soldiers  beneath 
them  shouting  that  the  ship  was  taken;  whereupon, 
says  an  eye-witness,  ''  a  shiill  cry  of  misery  like  the 
wailings  of  women  was  heard  from  the  walls" ;  and 
men,  in  tatters,  with  faces  all  blackened  with  hunger, 
smoke,  and  powder,  looked  despairingly  in  each  other's 
eyes.  But  only  for  a  few  moments.  The  vessel,  freeing 
lierself  by  the  rebound  of  a  broadside  fired  landward 


CHAP.  XLIX.]       THE  SIEGE  OF  DEEKY. PART  II.  337 

from  lier  guns,  was  seen  emerging  from  tlie  smoke.  A 
second  time  slie  struck  the  boom  full  force  and  broke 
it :  and  the  whole  three  ships  sailed  up  to  the  town  amid 
fi'antic  cries  of  joy.  Great  heaps  of  luxuiious  food — 
beef,  bacon,  cheese,  oatmeal,  butter,  biscuits — gladdened 
the  eyes  of  the  famishing  crowd,  and  the  town  was 
relieved.  Hamilton,  having  continued  to  ply  his  bat- 
teries for  the  next  day  or  two,  at  last  gave  up  all  fiu'ther 
attempts  and  marched  away :  and  thus  came  to  an  end, 
on  the  31st  of  July  1689,  a  siege  of  a  hundred  and 
five  days,  one  of  the  most  famous  in  Irish  or  British 
history. 

Of  the  7000  fighting  men  of  Deny,  only  4300  sui'- 
vived;  and  the  mortality  among  the  non-combatants 
was  still  greater:  probably  10,000  altogether  perished 
during  the  siege,  chiefly  of  hunger  and  disease.  The 
Irish  anny,  though  not  so  badly  oS  for  food,  suffered 
almost  as  much  as  the  defenders  from  want  of  camping 
and  sleeping  accommodation,  from  exposure  and  hard- 
ship night  and  day,  and  fi'om  unwholesome  food  and 
sickness:  while,  on  account  of  the  deficient  supply  of 
arms  and  ammunition,  more  of  them  fell  in  the  several 
conflicts  than  of  their  opponents  :  so  that  the  mortality 
among  them  was  almost  as  great  as  it  was  in  the  town. 

The  ancient  walls  of  Derry  are  still  perfect,  though 
the  to-ssTi  has  extended  far  beyond  them ;  some  of  the 
old  guns  are  reverently  preserved ;  and  on  the  site  of 
one  of  the  bastions,  rises  a  lofty  pillar  surmounted  by  a 
statue  of  the  Eev.  George  Walker. 

Enniskillen,  the  other  Williamite  stronghold,  was 
thi'eatened  by  the  approach  of  an  Irish  army ;  but  the 
Enniskilleners,  not  waiting  for  a  siege,  marched  forth 
on  the  day  before  the  relief  of  Derry,  and  intercepted 
and  utterly  defeated  them  at  Kewtownbutler.      It  is 


338 


A  child's  history  of  IRELAND.       [CHAP.  XLIX. 


stated  that  the  Irish  defeat  here  was  due  to  a  mistake 
in  a  word  of  command.  The  general  ordered  a  detach- 
ment to  face  to  the  right  in  order  to  relieve  another 
party  tliat  were  hard  pressed ;  but  the  next  in  command 
delivered  the  order,  "  llight  ahoiit  face  and  march," 
which  in  fact  meant  a  retreat.  This  order  was  obeyed ; 
on  seeing  which,  the  rest  of  the  army,  thinking  the 
order  was  a  general  one,  threw  down  their  arms  and 
fled.  This  mistake  brought  rout  followed  by  merciless 
slaughter  on  the  Irish,  with  little  loss  to  the  Ennis- 
killen  men. 

Sarsfield  was  not  present  at  Deny ;  he  commanded  a 
detachment  at  Sligo ;  but  on  hearing  of  these  disasters, 
he  retired  to  Athlone ;  and  now  Ulster  was  nearly  all  in 
the  hands  of  the  Williamites. 


Walker's  Monument,  Derry,  in  1840.     From  WriiilU's  "Ireland  lUustrated. 


^^^^^i^k 

^^B^^^^^^^^^^^^Si>'^sfh\^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 

The  Duke  of  Schomberg-.     I~rora  an  old  print  in  National  Gallery,  Dublin. 


CHAPTER  L. 


THE     BATTLE     OF    TKE     B0Y:XE. 


A.D.  1689-1690.— Wniiam  and  Mary. 

HE  siege  of  Deny  was  only  the  beginniDg 
of  the  struggle.     King  AVilliam  had  now 
leism^e  to  look  to  Ireland;  and  he  sent 
over  the  duke  of  Schomberg — then  above 
eighty    years    of    age  —  who   landed,  in 
August    1689,    at    Bangor,   with    an   anny    of    about 
After  a  siege  of  eight  days,  Carrickfergus 
z2 


15,000  men 


340 


A  (.IIILDS  HISTORY  OF  IRELAND.  [cHAP.  L. 


Castle  was  surrendered  to  liim ;  and  he  settled  down 
for  some  time  near  Dundalk,  in  an  unhealthy  position, 
entrenching  himself  in  a  fortified  camp,  which  soon 
became  a  vast  hospital,  where  he  lost  fully  half  of  his 
army  by  sickness. 

In  the  following  year  King  William  came  over  to 
conduct  the  campaign  in  person.  He  landed  at  Carrick- 
fergus  on  June  14th  1690,  and  immediately  joined 
Schomberg.  About  half  of  the  united  army  were 
foreigners,  excellent  soldiers,  a  mixture  of  French, 
Dutch,  Danes,  Swedes,  and  Prussians  or  Branden- 
burghers. 


View  of  the  Boyne  looking  down  towards  Droglieda.    Tide  full  in.     Scliomnerg^ 
Monument  in  front.     Bank  lo  the  right  a  portion  of  main  field  of  battle 


James  had  advanced  from  Dublin  to  Dundalk,  but 
fell  back  on  the  south  bank  of  the  Boyne,  with  his 
centre  at  the  village  of  Oldbridge,  three  miles  above 
Drogheda,  whither  William  followed  and  took  up  his 


CHAP.  L.]       THE  BATTLE  OF  THE  BOYNE.  341 

position  on  tlie  north,  bank.  The  two  hanks  rise  on 
both  sides,  fonning  low  hills,  on  which  were  placed  the 
camps,  and  the  river  flowed  peacefully  in  the  valley 
beneath.  The  Irish  army,  consisting  of  about  26,000 
men,  was  largely  composed  of  recruits,  badly  drilled 
and  badly  armed,  having  only  twelve  French  field  guns 
as  their  sole  supply  of  artillery,  with  the  crowning 
ill-fortune  of  being  led  by  King  James.  They  were 
opposed  by  a  more  numerous  army — about  40,000  men 
— well  trained  and  well  supplied  with  all  necessaries, 
including  a  fine  artillery  train  of  fifty  field  guns,  and 
commanded  by  William,  a  man  full  of  energy  and 
deteiToination,  and  one  of  the  best  generals  of  his  time. 

On  the  evening  of  the  30th  June,  King  William, 
riding  down  to  the  river  with  some  officers  to  observe 
the  opposite  lines,  had  a  narrow  escape.  The  Irish, 
observing  the  party,  at  once  brought  two  field  guns  to 
bear  on  them.  The  fii'st  shot  killed  a  man  and  two 
horses,  and  the  second  struck  the  king  on  the  right 
shoulder,  tearing  away  skin  and  flesh :  but  the  wound 
was  only  slight.  The  Irish,  thinking  he  was  killed, 
raised  a  great  shout,  and  alarming  rumoui^s  went 
among  the  English  lines  :  but  William,  having  got  the 
wound  dressed,  and  making  very  Httle  of  it,  rode  all 
thi'ough  his  own  camp  to  assui-e  the  aiTuy  of  his  safety. 

The  conduct  of  James  on  this  same  evening — the 
evening  before  the  battle — was  enough  to  damp  the 
spirits  of  any  army.  He  was  flighty  and  undecided. 
One  time  he  seemed  to  contemplate  a  general  retreat 
and  gave  orders  to  raise  the  camp ;  but  in  a  few 
moments  came  a  counteimand,  and  he  appeared  deter- 
mined to  risk  a  battle.  Finally  he  sent  off  towards 
Dublin  his  baggage  and  six  of  his  twelve  field  pieces, 
which  were  badly  needed  on  the  battle-field ;  and  this 


342  CHILD  S  HISTORY  OF  IRELAND.  [CHAP.  L. 

movement,  -svhich  was  a  plain  preparation  for  a  retreat, 
presently  became  known  tliroiigh  the  array.  His  whole 
anxiety  seemed  to  be  to  secure  his  own  safety  in  case 
of  defeat. 

Early  in  the  morning  of  the  1st  July,  William's  army 

began  to  move :  by  his  order  each  man 
A.D.  1G90    wore  a  sprig  of  green  in  his  cap,  while 

the  Jacobites  wore  little  strips  of  white 
paper.  *'  The  day,"  says  Stoiy  the  army  chaplain, 
who  was  present,  ''was  very  clear,  as  if  the  sun  itself 
had  a  mind  to  see  what  would  happen."  The  river 
was  low,  for  the  tide  was  at  ebb  and  the  weather  had 
been  dry,  and  there  were  several  fords  so  shallow  as  to 
be  passable  without  much  difficulty.  The  task  to  be 
accomplished  was  to  force  the  passage  of  these  fords  in 
spite  of  the  opposition  of  the  Irish.  One  division  of  more 
than  10,000  men  under  Lieutenant- General  Douglas, 
with  young  Count  Schomberg,  and  others,  had  set  out 
at  sunrise  for  Slane,  five  miles  up  the  river,  where 
there  was  a  bridge,  which  James,  though  warned,  had 
left  unguarded,  thereby  leaving  his  left  unprotected. 
!N'ow,  when  too  late — for  the  English  had  got  a  con- 
siderable start — ^he  attempted  to  repair  the  error  by 
sending  a  large  part  of  his  army,  horse  and  foot, 
towards  Slane  to  oppose  them.  In  the  upward  march 
the  Williamites  found  a  ford  at  Rossnaree,  two  miles 
below  Slane,  where  several  regiments  forced  their  way 
across.  After  some  hard  fighting  the  small  Jacobite 
detachment  that  had  first  arrived  at  the  ford  to  oppose 
them  was  routed,  and  their  commander.  Sir  'Neil  O'Tieill, 
was  mortally  wounded.  The  rest  of  the  Williamite 
forces  continued  their  march  and  crossed  at  Slane. 
The  object  of  all  this  movement  was,  partly  to  take  the 
Irish  anny  in  the  rear,  and  partly  to  occupy  the  pass  at 


CHAP.  L.] 


THE  BATTLE  OF  THE  BOYNE. 


343 


Duleek,  so  as  to  intercept  them  in  case  they  should 
retreat  towards  Dublin :  for  the  only  open  road  in 
that  direction  to  Dublin  was  this  narrow  pass  across 
the  Nanny  Water  river  and  through  a  morass.  But 
Douglas  and  the  other  commanders,  though  they  suc- 
ceeded in  crossing  the  Boyne,  were  unable  to  effect  much 
more  on  account  of  the  difficulty  of  the  ground :  and 
there  was  very  little  fighting  here  beyond  the  hot 
skinnish  at  Eossnaree,  so  that  the  Irish  were  able  to 


Plan  of  Battle  according  to  Story. 


\V.  William's  army. 

Ir.    Irish  army. 

O.    Village  of  Oldbridge. 

D.    Donore  Hill  and  Church. 

Dr.  Drogheda. 


M.  Main  field  of  battle. 
R.    Rossnaree  ford. 

The  other  fords  where  William's 

main  army  crossed  are  marked 

in  dotted  lines. 


keep  possession  of  the  pass  at  Duleek  till  evening. 
Nevertheless,  this  movement  materially  contributed  to 
the  defeat  at  the  Boyne  :  for  the  task  of  defending  the 
fords  near  Oldbridge  was  unexpectedly  thrown  on  a  sec- 
tion of  the  Irish  anuy  under  Tirconnell  and  Hamilton  ; 
who  were  outnumbered  three  to  one. 

King  William,  having  waited  till  an  express  messen- 
ger had  come  fi'om  Douglas  to  say  he  had  succeeded  in 
forcing  a  passage,  issued  his  orders  to  cross  the  river 
at   several   fords,   one   near  the  village  of    Oldbridge 


344  A  child's  history  of  IRELAND.  [CHAP.  L. 

straight  between  the  two  opposing  camps,  and  the 
others  lower  down  towards  Drogheda.  At  the  same 
time  his  batteries,  which  were  placed  on  the  high  banks 
on  the  north  of  the  river,  opened  fire  on  the  Irish,  who 
could  not  reply,  as  the  six  pieces  King  James  had  left 
them  had  been  sent  on  towards  Slane.  In  the  midst  of 
the  roar  of  artillery,  at  a  quarter  past  ten,  the  famous 
Blue  Dutch  guards  and  the  French  Huguenots,  all  on 
foot,  dashed  in  ten  abreast,  at  the  Oldbridge  ford  oppo- 
site James's  centre,  and  were  followed  by  a  body  of 
English  and  Danes,  all  up  to  their  middle  in  the  water. 
They  were  met  by  a  Tolley,  and  as  they  were  landing 
they  were  charged  by  the  Irish  and  French,  horse  and 
foot,  but  succeeded  in  gaining  the  other  side,  where, 
howerer,  the  Jacobites,  especially  the  cavalry,  though 
far  outnumbered,  continued  to  charge  with  great 
spirit,  so  that  in  some  places  the  foreign  troops  were 
forced  to  turn  right  roimd  and  rush  back  across  the 
river.  But  in  spite  of  all,  the  AYilliamites  held  their 
ground.  "Much  about  this  time,"  says  Story,  "there 
was  nothing  to  be  seen  but  Smoak  and  Dust,  nor  any- 
thing to  be  heard  but  one  continued  fire  for  nigh  half 
an  Hour." 

It  was  at  this  point,  just  beside  the  village  of  Old- 
bridge,  that  old  Duke  Schomberg,  rallying  a  body  of 
Huguenots  who  had  been  broken  by  the  Irish  and  were 
rushing  back  towards  the  river,  was  killed  by  a  musket 
bullet  which  struck  him  in  the  neck.  His  body  was 
immediately  carried  across  the  river  to  the  English 
camp.  About  the  same  time  Walker  of  Deny  was  shot 
dead  near  the  ford.  "WTiile  this  fierce  struggle  was 
going  on,  the  rest  of  William's  army  began  to  cross,  the 
king  himself  galloping  up  and  dovm  between  the  two 
armies  at  his  own  side  of  the  river,  directing  the  move- 


CHAP.  L.]      THE  BATTLE  OF  THE  BOYNE.  345 

ments.  At  last,  seeing  his  men  well  engaged  wading 
and  fighting,  he  crossed  with  a  troop  of  horse  at  the 
lowest  ford  of  all,  more  than  a  mile  below  Oldbridge,  and 
seems  to  have  met  with  little  or  no  opposition.  Having 
got  his  men  in  order  at  the  other  side,  he  di'ew  his 
sword,  though  vrith  difficulty,  on  account  of  his  wound, 
and  advanced  towards  his  foot,  who  were  struggling 
with  the  Irish.  But  he  found  it  very  hard  to  reach 
them ;  for  the  ground  was  soft,  and  once  his  horse  got 
bogged,  so  that  he  had  to  alight  till  the  animal  was 
extricated ;  after  which  he  headed  his  men  in  the  for- 
ward march  to  take  the  Irish  army  in  flank,  exposing 
himself  without  the  least  hesitation  to  the  heavy  fii'e. 
When  the  Irish  saw  their  right  flank  thus  threatened, 
they  retreated  a  little  to  Donore  hill,  where  they  made 
a  stand  :  and  succeeded  in  diiving  back  the  Williamite 
cavalry.  The  king  now  headed  the  Dutch  and  Ennis- 
killeners  and  charged  straight  in  the  line  of  the  Irish 
fire.  He  was  at  first  repulsed,  but  came  on  again,  and 
the  fighting  went  on  more  f miously  than  ever.  In  this 
manner,  during  the  day,  the  Irish  kept  up  the  unequal 
struggle,  first  at  the  fords,  and  next  at  their  own  side  of 
the  river,  after  William's  whole  army  had  succeeded  in 
crossing.  There  were  continual  charges,  countercharges, 
advances,  and  retreats,  on  both  sides;  and  for  a  time 
the  battle  seemed  doubtful.  Eut  no  amount  of  bravery 
could  compensate  for  the  disadvantages  under  which 
the  Irish  fought  that  day,  so  that  late  in  the  evening 
they  were  forced  to  give  way,  and  still  fighting,  they 
began  their  retreat. 

King  James,  after  issuing  his  orders  in  the  morn- 
ing, retired  to  the  little  church  on  the  summit  of 
the  hill  of  Donore,  fi'om  which  he  viewed  the  conflict 
in  safety.     He  took  no  further  part  in  the  battle  ;  and 


3-46 


A  child's   history  of  IRELAND.  [CHAP.  L. 


early  in  the  cveninf^,  when  he  saw  that  the  day  was 
goinp:  against  him,  he  fled  in  haste  with  a  body-guard 
of  200  horse,  before  the  battle  was  over,  leaving  his  men 
to  take  care  of  themselves,  and  reached  Dublin  a  little 
after  nine  o'clock  that  same  evening.  The  main  body 
of  the  Irish  army,  making  good  the  pass  of  Duleek,  in 
spite  of  the  attempts  of  the  Williamite  generals  to 
intercept  them,  retreated  southwards  in  good  order  to 
Dublin;  and  thence  to  Limerick.  Drogheda,  which 
was  garrisoned  by  King  James's  troops,  capitulated  on 
honourable  terms  immediately  after  the  battle. 


Schomberg^'s  Monument  on  the  Boyne.    From  Wilde  s  "  Boyne  and  Blackwater. 


Sarsfield  was  present  at  the  Eoyne,  but  he  held  a 
subordinate  command,  and  was  given  no  opportunity  of 
taking  any  part  in  the  battle :  according  to  some  he 
commanded  the  200  horse  that  escorted  James  to 
Dublin.  Conversing  with  a  Williamite  officer  about  the 
Boyne  some  time  afterwards,  he  exactly  pictured  the 
true  state  of  things  when  he  exclaimed : — "  Change  kings 
with  us  and  we  will  fight  you  over  again  I  " 

Ha^^ng   given    the   chief    command   to    Tirconnell, 


CHAP.  LI.]      THE  SIEGE  OF  LIMERICK. PART  I.  347 

James  embarked  at  Kinsale  and  landed  at  Brest,  the 
first  bearer  of  the  news  of  his  own  defeat.  AYilliam 
arrived  at  Dublin  and  took  possession  of  the  city  on 
Sunday  the  6th  of  July.  After  this,  Kilkenny,  Dun- 
cannon,  and  Waterford  siuTcndered  in  quick  succession. 
The  body  of  the  great  old  soldier  Schomberg  was 
brought  to  Dublin  and  interred  in  St.  Patrick's  Cathe- 
dral ;  and  a  tall  obelisk  to  his  memory  now  rises  from  a 
rock  on  the  north  bank  of  the  Boyne. 


CHAPTER  LI. 

THE    SIEGE    OF   LIMERICK. PART   I. 

SAUSFIELD  AND    THE    SIEGE   TRAIN. 
A.D.  1690.— William  and  Mary. 

^  ONCENTRATiNG  their  whole  force  at 
'^^  Limerick  and  Athlone,  the  Irish 
now  determined  to  make  the  Shannon 
their  line  of  defence,  and  to  stand 
at  bay  in  these  two  strongholds.  On 
the  1 7th  July,  General  Douglas,  with 
12,000  men,  arriyed  before  Athlone,  which 
was  the  great  important  pass  into  Connaught. 
The  town  was  divided  in  two,  then  as  now,  by  the 
Shannon,  the  part  on  the  Leinster  or  eastern  side  being 
called  the  English  Town,  and  that  on  the  Connaught 
side  the  Irish  Town.  Colonel  Eichard  Grace  the 
Governor,  a  brave  old  soldier,  one  of  the  Confederates 
of  half  a  century  before,  seeing  that  the  English  Town 
could  not  be  defended,  burned  it  and  posted  his  whole 


848  A  child's  history  of  IRELAND.         [OHAP.  LI. 

army  at  the  Connauglit  side,  breaking  down  the  bridge. 
Douglas,  having  taken  possession  of  the  ruins,  sent  a 
summons  to  surrender ;  but  the  Colonel,  firing  a  pistol 
over  the  messenger's  head,  told  him  to  return  and  say  that 
these  were  the  terms  he  was  for.  Douglas  canied  on 
the  siege  vigorously  day  after  day,  but  was  successfully 
kept  at  bay  by  the  stout  old  governor.  At  the  end  of  a 
week,  news  came  that  Sarsfield  was  approaching  from 
the  west:  whereupon  Douglas,  fearing  that  his  com- 
munication with  Dublin  might  be  cut  off,  suddenly 
raised  the  siege  and  marched  away  quietly  in  the  middle 
of  the  night,  not  taking  time  even  to  demolish  the  walls. 
Turning  southwards,  he  joined  King  William,  who  was 
at  this  time  making  his  way  leisurely  towards  Limerick. 
The  king  with  the  united  army  arrived  before  the  walls 

on  Satui^day  the  9th  August,  a  little  more 
A.D.  1690    than  a  month  after  the  battle  of  the  Boyne. 

He  was  not  yet  quite  prepared  for  effective 
siege  operations,  as  the  whole  of  his  artillery  had  not 
come  up :  but  a  great  siege  train  was  on  its  way  from 
Dublin,  guarded  by  a  convoy  of  two  troops  of  horse, 
with  heavy  cannons,  plenty  of  ammunition  and  pro- 
visions, tin  boats  or  pontoons  for  crossing  the  river,  and 
other  necessary  war  materials. 

"WTiile  the  citizens  of  Limerick  were  busily  engaged 
preparing  for  defence,  a  French  deserter  from  William's 
camp  brought  intelligence  of  the  approach  of  the  siege 
train :  on  which  Sarsfield,  who  commanded  the  cavalry, 
instantly  determined  to  intercept  train  and  convoy :  an 
uncertain  and  perilous  venture,  requiring  courage,  cool- 
ness, and  dash.  On  the  night  of  Sunday,  August  10th, 
after  a  hasty  preparation,  he  quietly  crossed  Thomond 
Bridge  to  the  Clare  side  with  500  picked  horsemen. 
Knowing  that  the  fords  near  the  city  were  all  guarded 


CHAP.  LI.]      THE  SIEGE  OF  LIMERICK. PART  I. 


349 


by  "Williamite  detachmeiits,  and  "dishing  to  escape  obser- 
yation  lest  be  migbt  be  intercepted,  he  rode  to  Killaloe, 
fifteen  miles  above  Limerick,  keeping  the  river  close 
on  the  right.  Crossing  at  a  ford  a  little  above  Killaloe, 
so  deep  and  dangerous  that  it  had  not  been  thought 
necessary  to  place  a  guard  on  it — or  perhaps  it  was 
not  known — the  party  turned  east  and  halted  towards 
morning  on  the  northern  slope  of  Keeper  Hill,  in  the 
neighboui'hood  of  Silvermines.  On  Monday  morning 
they  moved  leisui^ely  round  the  eastern  base  of  the 
mountain,  and  rested  quietly  for  the  remainder  of  the 


Thomond  Bridge  in  1681,  with  King  John's  Castle  and  the  Cathedral :  from  the  Journal 
of  Thomas  Dinely.     "  Kilkenny  Archaeological  Journal,"  1864-6,  p.  426. 


day,  hidden  among  the  glens  at  the  eastern  extremity 
of  the  Slieve  Felim  mountains  :  while  Sarsfield  sent 
scouts  southwards  for  intelligence.  During  the  whole 
of  his  journey,  from  the  time  he  left  Limerick,  he  was 
guided  by  rapparees  and  peasants,  who  were  devoted 
to  him  heart  and  soul,  and  who  knew  every  hill,  glen, 
and  pass  along  the  difficult  route.  According  to  a 
vivid  local  tradition,  which  is  probably  true,  his  chief 
guide  was  a  celebrated  rapparee  captain  of  the  time, 


350  A  child's   HISTOUY  of  IRELAND.         [CHAP.   LI. 

often  mentioned  by  Story,  well  known  then,  and  re- 
membered to  this  day,  by  the  name  of  "  Galloping 
O'Hogan." 

On  Monday  a  country  gentleman  of  the  neighbour- 
hood of  Limerick,  named  Manns  O'Brien,  came  to 
William's  camp  and  told  the  officers  that  Sarsfield  had 
left  on  the  night  before  on  some  enterprise  of  impor- 
tance :  but  they  only  laughed  at  him,  believing  it  a 
dream  of  his  own.  The  cautious  king  however,  having 
questioned  him,  took  the  matter  more  seriously.  He 
at  once  ordered  out  a  party  of  500  horse  under  Sir  John 
Lanyer,  to  meet  and  protect  the  siege  train :  but  the 
preparations  were  slow,  and  the  party  did  not  start  till 
an  hour  or  two  after  midnight. 

The  convoy  had  set  out  with  theii'  charge  on  Monday 
morning  from  Cashel,  and  passing  through  the  little 
village  of  Cullen,  halted  for  the  night  at  the  base  of  a 
rocky  eminence  on  the  summit  of  which  stood  the  ruined 
castle  of  Ballyneety,  just  two  miles  beyond  the  village, 
and  about  twelve  miles  from  the  rear  outposts  of 
William's  encampment.*  As  no  danger  was  appre- 
hended, little  precaution  was  taken.  The  tents  were 
scattered  over  the  sward :  the  horses  were  tui'ned  out  to 
graze;  sentinels  were  set  on  guard;  and  the  men  lay 
down  to  sleep  in  fancied  secuiity,  "but  some  of  them," 
observes  Story,  in  his  quaint  way,  "  awoke  in  the  next 
world."  Oddly  enough  the  password  for  the  night  was 
"Sarsfield." 

*  All  through  this  cliapter  and  the  next  I  have  given  the 
distances  in  English  miles.  The  mile  of  Story  and  other  con- 
temporary authorities  is  equal  to  1^  or  If  or  sometimes  2  English 
miles.  Story  says  that  Ballyneety  was  "  not  seven  miles  fiom 
our  camp,  and  directly  in  the  rear  of  it."  His  "seven  miles" 
means  about  twelve. 


CHAP.   LI.]      THE  SIEGE  OF  LIMERICK. PART  I.  351 

In  the  evening  of  the  same  day,  Sarsfield's  scouts 
returned  to  Slieve  Felim  with  intelligence  of  the  con- 
voy's camping  place ;  and  some  time  after  nightfall  he 
and  his  party,  refi'eshed  after  their  long  day's  rest,  set 
out  southwards,  and  after  a  hard  midnight  ride,  found 


Patrick  Sarsfield.  From  an  engraving  in  Gilberts  "Jacobite  War" ;  that  from 
an  old  print  in  the  National  Gallery,  Dublin ;  and  that  again  from  the  original 
picture  by  Margaret,  Lady  Bingham. 

themselves  about  two  o'clock  in  the  morning  at  Cullen. 
Here,  by  a  lucky  accident,  Sarsfield  found  out  the  pass- 
word, which  enabled  the  party  to  pass  some  outlying 


B52  A  child's  history  of  Ireland,      [chap.  li. 

sentinels  without  exciting  any  suspicion.  As  they 
approached  the  camping  ground  they  rode  as  cautiously 
and  noiselessly  as  possible,  till  the  sentinel  just  out- 
side the  encampment  was  startled  by  the  appearance  of 
horsemen  through  the  dim  moonlight,  with  one  tall  foim 
looming  at  their  head,  and  called  out  for  the  password. 
"  Sarsfield  is  the  word  and  Sarsfield  is  the  man  !  "  was 
the  answer  to  the  challenge ;  and  the  whole  party 
dashed  in  on  the  encampment.  Instantly  the  English 
bugles  sounded  the  alarm,  and  the  sleepers  sprang  up 
and  hastily  snatched  their  weapons.  But  all  too  late  : 
those  who  stood  on  the  defence  were  at  once  cut  down ; 
and  the  rest,  seeing  resistance  hopeless,  saved  them- 
selves by  flight.  One  prisoner  was  taken,  an  officer 
who  lay  sick  in  a  neighbouring  house,  whom  Sarsfield 
treated  with  kindness,  and  to  whom,  according  to  Story, 
he  stated  that  he  would  have  gone  to  France  if  the 
enterprise  had  failed. 

Sarsfield  could  not  bring  away  the  guns  or  any  other 
heavy  articles,  knowing  he  was  sm-e  to  be  pui^sued ;  but 
the  horses  were  captured,  and  all  portable  things  were 
stowed  away  in  pockets  and  saddle-bags.  There  was 
not  a  moment  to  lose;  and  while  some  of  the  party 
smashed  up  the  tin  boats,  others  hastily  filled  the 
cannons  with  powder  and  bmied  their  muzzles  in  the 
earth,  piling  over  them  the  powder  packets,  waggons, 
ammunition,  and  provisions,  in  a  gi^eat  heap.  A  long 
fuse  was  fired  when  the  party  had  got  to  a  safe  distance, 
and  the  whole  train  was  blown  up  in  one  tenific 
explosion.  Sir  John  Lanyer  and  his  party,  who  were 
at  this  very  time  on  their  way  towards  Ballyneety,  saw 
the  heavens  and  all  the  surrounding  landscape  lighted 
up  for  a  moment,  and  heard  the  ominous  rumble  in  the 
distance.     Divining  but  too  well  the  meaning  of  what 


CHAP.  LI.]      THE  SIEGE  OF  LIMERICK. PART  I. 


353 


he  saw  and  heard,  he  galloped  forward  and  arrived  just 
in  time  to  see  the  last  of  Sarsfield's  column  disappearing 
through  the  darkness.  He  tried  to  oyertake  them ;  but 
Sarsfield  wishing  to  get  back  as  soon  as  possible  without 
any  more  fighting,  soon  distanced  the  pui'suing  party, 
and  crossing  the  Shannon,  made  his  way  safely  to  the 
city,  where  he  was  welcomed  with  a  mighty  cheer. 
The  garrison,  as  we  are  told  in  the  Life  of  King  James, 
"was  hugely  encouraged  by  this  advantage":  and 
having  before  their  minds  the  noble  defence  of  Deny- 
just  a  year  before,  all,  both  garrison  and  citizens,  deter- 
mined to  emulate  it. 


Sarsfieia's  Rock  :  2  miles  west  from  CuUen.  and  5  miles  west  from  Limerick  Junction. 
Space  in  front,  where  Siege  Train  was  blown  up.    From  a  Photograph, 


The  very  spot  where   the   train  was   blown  up  is 

still  well  known ;  and  the  rocky  eminence  rising  over 

it  is  now  called  Sarsfield's  Rock;    but  the  old  castle 

has  almost  disappeared.     The  whole  place  abounds  iii 

2a 


854  A  child's   lllSTOKY   OF  IRELAND.       [cHAl'.   Lll. 

traditions  of  the  event ;  and  the  people  tell  how,  some 
years  ago,  persons  digging  deeply  came  upon  quantities 
of  human  h<mes>' 


CHAPTER   LII. 

THE   SIEGE   OF   LIMERICK. — PAET  U. 
A.D.  1690.— William  and  Mary. 

the  opening  of  the  last  chapter  it  was 
stated  that  King  William  arrived  with 
his  army  at  Limerick  on  Satui^day  the 
9th  August  1690.  He  was  attended  by 
Ginkle,  Douglas,  and  others  of  his  best 
generals ;  and  he  encamped  near  Singland,  within 
cannonshot  of  the  walls,  his  lines  extending  in  a  curve 
east  and  south  of  the  city.  The  place  was  so  badly 
prepared  for  a  siege  that  the  French  general  Lauzun 
laughed  at  the  idea  of  defending  it,  saying  that  *'it 
could  be  taken  with  roasted  apples."  He  refused, 
as  he  said,  to  sacrifice  the  lives  of  the  Frenchmen 
intrusted  to  him  in  what  he  considered,  or  pretended 
to  consider,  a  hopeless  contest.     Eut  in  truth  he  was 


*  There  are  half  a  dozen  places  called  Ballyneety  ("White's 
Town)  in  'J'ipperary  and  Limerick  ;  and  attempts  have  been  made, 
in  the  face  of  the  plainest  evidence,  to  identify  the  scene  of 
Sarsfield's  exploit  with  the  little  hamlet  of  Ballyneety  near 
Cahirconlish,  which  lai/  barely  three  English  miles  from  the  rear 
posts  of  William'' s  camp,  though  Story  tells  us  the  distance  was 
about  seven ;  i.e.  about  twelve  English.  This  Ballyneety  is  fully 
thirteen  miles  from  Cullen ;  w^hereas  Story  and  Mullineux,  both 
present  at  the  siege,  and  White  and  Ferrar,  who  wrote  some 
years  afterwards,  all  tell  us  that  the  camping  place  was  the 


CHAP.  LII.]      THE  SIEGE  OP  LIMERICK. PART  II.  856 

sick  of  this  Irish  war,  with  all  its  hardships  and 
privations,  and  he  longed  to  get  back  to  France. 
The  Duke  of  Tirconnell,  who  was  old  and  sickly  and 
weary  of  turmoil,  voted  with  him  to  sui-render  the  city. 
Eut  Sarsfield  was  of  a  different  mind:  he  was  for 
defence  :  and  he  was  heartily  seconded  by  a  brave 
French  captain  named  Boisseleau  or  Boileau.  They 
infused  their  spirit  into  the  native  troops ;  and  it  was 
resolved  at  all  hazards  to  defend  the  city ;  whereupon 
Lauzun  and  Tirconnell  marched  to  Galway  with  all 
the  French  troops,  bringing  away  a  great  quantity  of 
ammunition  sorely  needed  by  the  citizens.  And  thus 
the  two  chief  men  intrusted  with  the  guardianship  of 
Limerick  deserted  their  posts,  leaving  the  Irish  to 
defend  it  as  best  they  could.  Boileau,  having  been 
appointed  governor,  set  about  repairing  and  strengthen- 
ing the  old  walls,  towers,  and  forts :  the  citizens  vied 
with  the  soldiers :  and  even  the  women  and  chikben 
assisted  with  the  greatest  spirit  and  cheerfulness. 

At  this  time  Limerick  was  the  second  city  in  Ireland. 
The  principal  part,  called  the  English  Town,  stood  upon 
the  King's  Island,  which  is  enclosed  by  two  branches 
of  the  Shannon,  and  is  about  a  mile  in  length.  Here 
also  stood,  as  it  still  stands,  the  fine  ruin  of  King  John's 

Ballyneety  near  Cullen.  Again,  Story  relates  that  Sir  John 
Lanyer — with  his  troop  of  horse— had  been  an  how  on  the  march 
from  his  own  camp  towards  the  camping  place  of  the  train  at 
Ballyneety,  when  lie  saw  the  flash  and  heard  the  report  in  the 
distance:  and  yet  it  seems,  according  to  this  new  identification, 
the  place  of  the  explosion  was  only  three  or  four  miles  from 
Lanyer's  starting-point !  There  are  other  evidences  equally 
strong,  showing  this  identification  to  he  quite  v/rong :  but  the 
point  need  not  be  argued  further.  The  place  where  William's 
train  was  blown  up  is  known  with  as  much  certainty  as  the  site 
of  the  battle  of  the  Boyne. 

2a2 


356 


A  child's  history  of  IRELAND.      [cHAP.  LII. 


Castle  beside  the  main  brancli  of  the  river,  and  near  it 
the  old  Cathedral.  Here  Avere  the  dwellings  of  the 
nobility  and  gentry,  and  the  principal  buildings  and 
houses  of  business.  On  the  mainland,  at  the  county 
Limerick  or  south  side,  was  another  and  smaller  part  of 
the  city  called  the  Irish  Town,  which  was  connected 
with  the  English  Town  by  Ball's-bridge,  a  large  stone 


King  John's  Castle,  Limerick,  in  1845.      From  Mrs.  Hall's  "  Irelanci. 


structure.  The  English  Town  was  connected  with 
Clare  by  Thomond-bridge,  also  of  stone.  Those  two  old 
bridges  were  removed  about  seventy  years  ago,  but  the 
new  structures  retain  the  old  names.  Each  part  of  the 
city  was  encompassed  by  a  stone  wall,  outside  which 
was  a  trench  and  a  weak  palisade — "  a  toy  of  a  pali- 
pade,"  as  one  of  the  old  writers  calls  it.  It  was  a 
handsome  well-built   city.      Story  tells  us   that  the 


CHAP.  LII.]      THE  SIEGE  OF  LIMERICK. PART  II.  367 

houses  were  "  generally  built  very  strong  within  the 
Walls,  being  made  most  of  them  Castleways,  with 
Battlements."  In  modern  times  the  Irish  Town  has 
far  outgrown  its  former  dimensions,  and  is  now  the 
principal  part  of  the  city. 

King  William  had  an  effective  army  of  about  26,000 
men,  well  supplied  with  arms  and  ammunition  ;  while 
the  Irish  army  of  defence  numbered  about  25,000, 
scarcely  half  of  them  armed.  The  attack  was  to  be 
directed  against  the  Irish  Town ;  for  the  King's  Island 
and  the  English  Town  were  beyond  reach.  King 
"William  had  heard  of  the  departure  of  the  Trench 
troops  ;  and  when  he  and  his  officers  viewed  the 
crumbling  old  walls,  they  felt  assiu-ed  that  fi'om  a 
greatly  reduced  garrison  behind  such  feeble  defences, 
no  serious  resistance  would  be  encountered :  the  city 
would  fall  with  the  first  vigorous  assault. 

Before  beginning  operations  the  king  sent  a  summons 
to  surrender ;  on  the  receipt  of  which  a  council  of  war 
was  held,  in  which  the  line  of  action  to  be  taken  was 
unanimously  agreed  on ;  and  the  reply  was  a  polite 
letter  fi'om  the  governor  to  the  king's  secretary,  con- 
veying the  determination  to  defend  the  city  for  King 
James.     And  now  began  another  famous  siege. 

During  Sunday  and  Monday  operations  were  carried  on 
by  William  with  such  appliances  as  were  to  hand,  pend- 
ing the  arrival  of  the  hea^y  gims.  But  on  Tuesday 
came  the  intelligence  of  the  destruction  of  the  siege  train 
by  Sarsfield,  as  has  been  related  in  the  last  chapter. 
"  This  JS'ews,"  says  Stoiy,  the  Williamite  historian 
and  army  chaplain,  who  was  present  and  has  left 
an  account  of  the  siege,  "This  IN'ews  was  very  \ 
welcome  to  everybody  in  the  Camp,  the  very  private 
men  shewing  a  gi*eater  concern  at  the  loss  than  you 


858  A  child's  history  of  Ireland,     [chap.  lii. 

would  expect  from  such  kind  of  people."  Notwith- 
standing this  disaster,  the  king,  after  a  delay  of  about 
a  week,  pressed  on  the  siege  ;  for  he  had  procui-ed 
from  Watcrford  two  large  guns  and  a  mortar;  and, 
in  the  wi'eck  at  Eallyneety,  two  of  the  great  can- 
nons were  found  uninjured.  This  week's  breathing 
time  was  turned  to  good  account  by  the  citizens  in 
pushing  on  the  repair  of  their  old  defences  by  every 
possible  contrivance. 

On  the  1 7th  August  the  Williamite  men  began  to 
dig  trenches  to  enable  them  to  get  near  the  walls, 
and  they  worked  in  relays  steadily  day  and  night ; 
while  the  Irish,  on  their  part,  did  everything  in  their 
power  to  retard  the  work.  The  garrison  sometimes 
made  sallies,  and  then  there  were  bitter  conflicts, 
every  inch  of  ground  being  obstinately  contested. 
There  were  several  high  towers  on  the  walls,  in  which 
were  posted  sharpshooters,  who  kept  firing  down  into 
the  trenches,  killing  numbers  of  the  sappers.  Once, 
in  the  darkness  of  night,  during  a  sally,  two  parties  of 
the  besiegers  fired  on  one  another,  each  mistaking  the 
other  for  Irish :  and  for  two  full  hours,  while  this 
misdirected  combat  was  going  on,  the  Irish  kept  up  a 
fire  on  both,  the  king  all  the  time  looking  on  from  a 
distance,  hearing  the  firing  and  seeing  the  flashes,  and 
not  knowing  what  to  make  of  it. 

As  soon  as  the  artillery  had  been  got  into  position, 
the  heavy  guns  began  to  play ;  and  in  a  short  time  the 
high  towers  on  the  walls  were  levelled,  which  freed 
those  working  in  the  trenches  fi^om  the  sharpshooters. 
After  this  the  fire  was  mainly  concentrated  on  a  par- 
ticular part  of  the  wall  near  St.  John's  Gate,  with  the 
object  of  making  a  breach ;  while  shells,  red-hot  shot, 
and  a  sort  of  destructive  explosives  called  carcasses^ 


CHAP.  LII.]      THE  SIECtE  OF  LIMEKIOK. PART   II. 


359 


which  ran  along  the  streets  blazing  and  spitting  out 
fragments  of  iron  and  glass,  were  poured  in  among  the 
houses  without  intermission,  so  that  the  city  was  set  on 
fii-e  in  several  places,  and  a  great  store  of  hay  was  burned 
to  ashes.     "  I  remember,"  says  Story,  *'  we  were  all  as 


Plan  of  Limerick  during  the  siege.    Constructed  mainly  from  Story's  Plan. 

well  pleased  to  see  the  town  flaming  as  could  be,  which 
made  me  reflect  upon  oui'  profession  of  soldieiy  not  to 
be  overcharged  with  good  nature." 

An  incident  related  by  a  gentleman  from  the  county 
Meath,  who  happened  to  be  in  the  city  with  his  family 


860  A  child's  history  of  IRELAND.       [CHAP.  LIT. 

during  tlie  siege,  gives  a  vivid  idea  of  tlie  dangers  to 
wliicli  the  citizens  were  exposed.  lie  had  just  got  out 
of  bed  in  the  night  to  speak  to  one  of  the  servants : — 
'*  But  before  I  had  time  to  return  a  Ball  had  beat  down 
the  "Wall,  a  great  Part  of  which  had  fallen  in  and 
demolished  the  Bed.  It  then  passed  through  my 
Father's  Bed-chamber,  broke  the  Posts  of  the  Bed 
where  he  and  my  Mother  were  asleep,  but  thank 
Heaven  had  no  worse  effect  than  putting  the  Family 
in  a  Consternation."  Many  soldiers  and  citizens  were 
killed  by  the  showers  of  missiles ;  but  with  danger  and 
death  all  round  them  from  balls  and  carcasses  and 
fii'es,  the  spirits  of  the  people  never  flagged,  and  neither 
soldier  nor  citizen  called  for  surrender.  Great  numbers 
of  women  and  children  were  sent  for  safety  to  the 
King's  Island  and  to  the  Clare  side  of  the  river,  where 
they  encamped  in  such  shelters  as  they  were  able  to 
put  up. 

The  defenders  had  a  strong  fort  outside  the  wall, 
opposite  St.  John's  Gate,  fi'om  which  they  so  harassed 
the  besiegers  that  it  was  deteiTained  at  all  hazards 
to  attempt  its  captui'e.  A  large  party  advanced  to  the 
attack,  and  after  an  obstinate  hand-to-hand  fight  of 
several  houi's,  the  Irish  were  forced  to  retire  and  the 
English  took  possession ;  but  both  sides  lost  heavily  in 
this  prolonged  encounter. 

Diuiug  the  whole  time,  the  king  directed  the  siege 
operations,  often  exposing  himself  to  great  danger  with 
the  utmost  coolness,  and  having  one  or  two  narrow 
escapes.  On  one  occasion  he  was  riding  leisurely  to- 
wards Cromwell's  Port,  when  he  stopped  for  an  instant 
to  speak  to  a  gentleman :  but,  as  Story  relates,  ''  in  the 
very  moment  there  struck  a  twenty-four  pounder  in  the 
very  place,  which  would  have  struck  His  Majesty,  and 


CHAP.  LII.]      THE  SIEGE  OF  LIMERICK. PART   II.  361 

Horse  too,  all  to  pieces,  if  his  usual  good  Angel  had 
not  defended  him :  it  struck  the  Dust  all  about  him 
however,  though  he  took  little  notice  of  it,  but  alight- 
ing, came  and  laid  him  down  on  the  Fort,  amongst  all 
the  Dust."  While  the  king  worked  with  tireless 
energy  on  the  outside,  Sarsfield  and  Boileau  were 
equally  watchful  and  active  in  the  city  directing  the 
defence. 

The  sappers,  working  without  intermission,  gi'adually 
advanced  the  trenches  in  spite  of  all  opposition,  till  at 
last  they  were  within  a  few  yards  of  the  wall ;  and  it 
required  only  a  sufficient  breach  to  enable  the  besiegers 
to  attempt  a  storm.  "When  the  old  wall  at  last  showed 
signs  of  yielding  in  one  fated  spot,  under  the  tre- 
mendous cannonade,  Eoileau  caused  great  sacks  of 
wool,  held  by  ropes  from  the  inside,  to  be  thrown 
over  and  hung  down  on  the  outside,  to  deaden  the 
imj^act  of  the  balls.  But  despite  woolsacks,  sallies, 
and  resistance  of  every  kind,  a  great  breach  thirty- six 
feet  wide  was  made  near  St.  John's  Gate,  after  ten 
days'  incessant  battering :  and  through  this  it  was 
detennined  to  make  an  assault  and  storm  the  city. 
At  half  past  three  in  the   afternoon   of  the   27th 

August,  under  a  blazing  sun  and  cloud- 
A.D.  1690    less  sky,  a  storming  party   of  over   500 

grenadiers,  supported  in  the  rear  by 
10,000  men,  consisting  of  seven  regiments  of  foot  and 
a  large  body  of  horse,  leaped  up  from  the  trenches  at 
a  signal  of  three  guns  fired  fi'om  Cromwell's  Fort,  and 
made  a  rush  for  the  breach,  throwing  their  hand-gre- 
nades and  firing  theii'  muskets  among  the  defenders. 
"This,"  says  Stoiy,  "gave  the  Alann  to  the  Irish, 
who  had  their  Guns  all  ready  and  discharged  great  and 
small  Shot  upon  us  as  fast  as  'twas  possible  :  Oui'  men 


302  A  child's  history  of  IRELAND.        [CHAP.  LII. 

were  not  behind  them  in  either :  so  that  in  less  than 
two  Minutes  the  Noise  was  so  terrible,  that  one  would 
have  thought  the  very  Skies  to  rent  in  sunder.  This 
was  seconded  with  Dust,  Smoke,  and  all  the  terrors 
that  the  Art  of  Man  could  invent  to  ruin  and  undo 
one  another;  and  to  make  it  more  uneasie,  the  day 
itself  was  excessive  hot  to  the  By-standers,  and  much 
more  sure  in  all  respects  to  those  upon  action." 

The  storming  party  succeeded  in  crossing  the  trench 
outside  the  broken  wall ;  and,  pushing  on  over  the 
stones  and  rubbish  that  strewed  the  breach,  after  a 
desperate  hand-to-hand  conflict,  drove  the  Irish  before 
them,  and  rushed  on  for  some  distance  inside.  But 
here  an  unexpected  obstacle  met  them.  Some  days 
before,  when  Boileau  saw  that  it  was  likely  a  breach 
would  be  made,  he  caused  to  be  thi'own  up  a  great 
rough  rampart  of  earth  and  stones,  about  60  yards  from 
the  wall  inside,  where  the  space  happened  to  be  free 
from  houses,  placing  on  it  some  light  cannon,  and  having 
men  armed  ready  to  take  their  station  behind  it  at  the 
proper  time.  JS'o  sooner  had  the  storming  party  reached 
the  open  space  than  they  were  met,  front  and  flank,  by  a 
ten'ible  fire  of  cartridge  shot  and  bullets  from  cannon 
and  muskets,  so  that  they  showed  signs  of  wavering. 
But  thousands  of  resolute  men  pressed  on  fi'om  behind, 
knowing  they  were  fighting  under  the  very  eyes  of 
their  king,  who  siu'veyed  the  whole  conflict  from  Crom- 
well's Fort  at  a  little  distance  from  the  wall. 

The  Irish  had  planted  two  small  field  pieces  on  the 
Canons'  Abbey  near  Ball's-bridge,  which  swept  the  space 
in  front  of  the  breach  and  killed  gi^eat  numbers  of  the 
closely -packed  Williamites  as  they  struggled  on  to  gain 
the  breach.  But  in  spite  of  all,  the  party  who  had  got 
inside  the   wall,    being  every  moment   reinforced   by 


CHAP.  LII.]      THE  SIEGE  OF  LIMERICK. PAET   II.  303 

eager  comi'ades  from  behind,  still  continued  to  gain 
ground,  and  tlie  Limerick  men  continued  to  yield. 
The  want  of  a  sufficient  supply  of  arms  told  heavily 
here ;  for  it  was  observed  that  a  whole  regiment  of 
400  of  the  defenders,  all  Ulstermen  under  MacMahon, 
kept  flinging  stones  at  the  front  ranks  of  the  William- 
ites,  ha\*ing  no  better  weapons. 

During  all  this  time  the  citizens  viewed  the  fight 
from  every  convenient  standpoint  —  walls,  windows, 
roofs,  and  streets — but  could  see  little  through  the 
thick  cloud  of  smoke  and  dust.  When  at  last  they 
became  aware  that  the  assailants  were  prevailing,  they 
rushed  down  in  multitudes  by  common  impulse  from 
their  view  places,  and  seizing  eveiy  weapon  they  could 
lay  their  hands  on,  dashed  into  the  midst  of  the 
uproar  and  joined  eagerly  in  the  fray.  Even  the 
women,  like  the  women  of  Deny,  forced  their  way  in 
crowds  to  the  front,  right  up  to  the  solid  advancing 
ranks,  and  regardless  of  danger  and  death,  flung  broken 
bottles,  stones,  and  all  sorts  of  next-to-hand  missiles  in 
the  very  faces  of  the  assailants.  "  The  very  women," 
as  Story  tells  us,  "who  boldly  stood  in  the  trench, 
were  nearer  our  men  than  their  own." 

Among  William's  foreign  troops,  the  Brandenbui'gh  or 
Prussian  regiment  had  distinguished  themselves  for  cool 
and  detennined  bravery.  They  forced  their  way  into 
the  city  with  the  others ;  and  attacking  the  Elack 
Battery,  situated  inside,  not  far  from  the  breach,  took 
it  after  a  bloody  contest ;  when  suddenly,  either  by 
accident  or  design,  the  powder  in  the  vaults  beneath 
exploded  with  a  mighty  roar,  and  battery  and  Branden- 
burghers  were  blown  into  the  ail',  men,  stones,  and  frag- 
ments of  timber  mingled  up  in  horrible  confusion. 

For  foui'  hours  in  the  hot  afternoon  this  di'eadful 


864  A  child's  history  of  Ireland,     [chap.  lii. 

conflict  raged.  The  thickly-packed  masses  advanced 
and  yiekled  in  tiu'n  through  the  streets ;  a  close  and 
furious  struggle,  where  all  strained  their  utmost  to 
force  back  the  opposing  ranks,  and  no  one  thought  of 
personal  danger.  The  rattle  of  small  anns  and  the  roar 
of  cannon  never  ceased  for  an  instant,  and  a  cloud  of 
smoke  and  dust  that  veiled  the  sunlight  rose  slowly 
over  the  city,  and  was  wafted  along  by  the  gentle 
autumn  breeze,  till  it  disappeared  behind  a  range  of 
hills  six  or  eight  miles  off. 

At  last  the  assailants,  unable  to  withstand  the 
tremendous  and  unexpected  resistance,  yielded,  and 
tiu-ning  round,  rushed  back  through  the  breach  in 
headlong  confusion :  and  in  a  few  moments  the  old  city 
was  cleared  of  every  foreign  soldier,  except  the  killed 
and  wounded.  King  AVilliam,  having  witnessed  the 
repulse  of  his  best  troops,  **  Went  to  his  Camp  very 
much  concerned,"  says  Story,  *'as  indeed  was  the 
whole  anny,  for  you  might  have  seen  a  mixtui'e  of 
Anger  and  Sorrow  in  everybody's  countenance."  Over 
2000  of  his  men  were  killed,  while  the  loss  of  the 
Irish  was  comparatively  small.  It  was  a  matter  of 
consideration  whether  another  attempt  should  be  made ; 
but  as  the  rainy  season  was  coming  on,  which  was  sui'e 
to  bring  disease  among  his  troops,  the  king  thought  it 
more  prudent  to  raise  the  siege.  He  retui'ned  to  Eng- 
land, leaving  general  Ginkle  in  command :  and  on  the 
31st  August  the  anny  marched  away  from  the  city. 
The  siege  had  lasted  three  weeks;  and  the  heroic  de- 
fenders of  Limerick  had,  almost  without  ammunition, 
and  with  crumbling  old  walls  for  a  defence,  repulsed  a 
well-equipped  veteran  army,  directed  by  a  gi^eat  general 
celebrated  all  over  Eui'ope,  who  had  never  before  been 
foiled  by  any  fortress  however  strong. 


CHAP.  LIII.]  ATHLONE  AND  AUGHRIM.  865 

Lauzun  and  Tirconnell,  who  were  at  this  time  in 
Galway,  were  no  doubt  ill-pleased  to  hear  of  the  suc- 
cessful defence  of  Limerick,  which  they  had  deserted 
in  its  worst  time  of  need :  and  fearing  the  displeasure 
of  King  Louis,  they  both  embarked  for  France  in  order 
to  have  the  first  stoiy. 

In  September  1690,  Cork  sui-rendered,  after  a  fierce 
struggle,  to  the  skilful  generalship  of  John  Churchill, 
afterwards  the  celebrated  duke  of  Marlborough ;  and 
Kinsale  followed.  The  captui-e  of  these  two  important 
places,  which  more  than  counter-balanced  the  successful 
defence  of  Limerick,  ended  the  campaign  of  1 690. 


CHAPTER  LIII. 

ATHLONE       AND       A  TJ  G  H  E  I  M  . 
A.D.  1691.— William  and  Mary. 

0  military  events  of  importance  took  place 
in  Ireland  for  about  ten  months  after 
the  Siege  of  Limerick,  except  the  cap- 
tui-e  of  Cork  and  Kinsale.  But  the  war 
was  carried  on  without  intermission  all 
over  the  country,  from  Cavan  southwards, 
by  detached  parties  of  Williamite  forces,  who 
were  resisted  everywhere,  with  varying  suc- 
cess, partly  by  detachments  of  Irish  regular 
troops,  and  partly  by  bands  of  rapparees,  a  sort  of 
iiTcgular  volunteers,  who  were  looked  upon  as  mere 
robbers  by  the  English  captains  and  were  hanged 
whenever  caught.     So  long  as  the  two  armies  had  been 


36G  A  child's  history  of  Ireland,    [chap.  liii. 

kept  togother  in  large  bodies,  the  men  were  under  the 
usual  discipline,  outrage  was  repressed,  and  the  ordi- 
nary laws  of  warfare  were  fairly  observed.  But  when 
they  got  broken  up  into  roving  bands,  discipline  was 
all  but  abandoned,  and  they  committed  cruel  outrages 
everywhere  on  the  people.  The  account  left  us  by 
the  Williamite  chaplain.  Story,  of  the  mode  of  war- 
fare, of  the  numerous  conflicts  and  daily  executions 
by  the  Williamite  captains,  and  of  the  general  state 
of  the  country,  is  a  fearful  record  of  bloodshed  and 
misery. 

Tirconnell,  who  had  sailed  from  Galway  to  France 
after  the  Siege  of  Limerick,  as  already  related,  returned 
with  some  money  and  stores  in  January  1691 ;  and  as 
he  was  King  James's  lord  lieutenant,  he  resumed 
authority.  In  May  a  French  fleet  sailed  up  the 
Shannon,  with  provisions,  clothing,  and  military  stores, 
but  no  men  or  money  :  bringing  Lieutenant- General 
St.  Euth,  a  brave  and  experienced  French  officer,  but 
cruel,  haughty,  and  excessively  conceited,  to  take  com- 
mand of  the  Irish  army,  by  direction  of  King  James, 
who  was  at  this  time  in  France.  It  would  no  doubt 
have  been  better  if  James  had  given  command  to 
Sarsfield,  who  was  at  least  as  good  an  officer,  and  who 
had  a  cooler  head,  as  well  as  a  perfect  knowledge  of  the 
country  and  of  the  modes  of  warfare  best  suited  to  it. 
Eut  James  and  his  party  treated  Sarsfleld  exactly  as 
the  Anglo-Irish  majority  of  the  Confederation  had 
treated  Owen  Eoe  O'Xeill  half  a  centuiy  before  (p.  297). 
Both  these  two  gi^eat  soldiers  were  kept  in  the  back- 
ground through  jealousy ;  and  in  each  case  those 
responsible  suffered  for  it  in  the  end.  Yet  the  Irish, 
though  dissatisfied,  obeyed  the  king's  order  and  fought 
loyally  under  St.  Euth;   while  Sai'sfield  himself  was 


CHAP.  LIII.]  ATHLONE  AND  AUGHRIM.  867 

too  high-principled  to  endanger  the  cause  by  offering 
any  opposition. 

After  the  failure  at  Limerick,  the  next  attempt  was 
to  be  made  on  Athlone,  which  was  almost  equally  im- 
portant ;  and  on  the  1 9th  June,  Ginkle  appeared  before 
it  with   an  army  of  18,000  men.      The 

A.D.  1691  main  body  of  the  Irish  was  encamped  at 
the  Connaught  side,  about  a  mile  west  of 
the  town.  They  were  commanded,  for  the  time  being, 
by  Sarsfield ;  for  St.  Euth,  the  commander-in-chief,  had 
not  yet  arrived  ;  and  Sarsfield  could  not  undertake  any 
important  movement  in  his  absence. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  when  Douglas  had  hastily 
abandoned  Athlone  in  the  previous  year,  he  left  the 
walls  of  the  English  Town  standing.  The  Irish  were 
now  again  in  possession,  but  the  wall  offered  only  a 
feeble  resistance  to  Ginkle' s  heavy  guns ;  and  after 
some  battering,  a  great  breach  was  made.  Poui'  thou- 
sand men  advanced  to  the  assault.  The  breach  was 
defended  by  about  400  Irish,  who  kept  the  assailants 
at  bay  for  some  time;  but  worn  out  at  last  with 
fatigue. and  want  of  sleep,  they  were  forced  to  retire 
across  the  bridge,  after  losing  half  their  number  :  and 
Ginkle  took  possession  of  the  English  Town.  On  the 
evening  of  that  day  St.  Paith  anived  in  the  camp  and 
took  measiu'es  to  defend  the  Irish  Town.  He  had  some 
earthworks  thrown  up  along  the  banks  of  the  river ; 
and  behind  these,  and  in  the  castle,  the  Irish  took 
their  stand.  They  still  held  possession  of  the  greater 
part  of  the  bridge.  But  the  English  cannon,  firing 
night  and  day,  battered  to  pieces  the  earthworks  and 
part  of  the  castle ;  and  the  numerous  thatched  houses 
were  set  on  fire  by  carcasses^  so  that  this  part  of  the 
town  was  reduced  to  a  mere  heap  of  rubbish  ;  and  the 


A  child's  history  of  IRELAND.     [cHAP.  LIII. 


Irish  had  hardly  any  protection,  and  no  means  of 
answering  the  heavy  continuous  fire  from  the  other 
side.  Ginkle  now  sent  a  party  to  attempt  to  cross  the 
Shannon  at  Lanesborough  near  the  northern  end  of 
Lough  llee,  thinking  that  to  be  an  easier  plan  than 
forcing  the  bridge :  but  the  Irish  becoming  aware  of 
the   movement,  successfully  resisted  the  passage,  and 


=^ 


Castle  of  Athlone  in  1845.     From  Mrs.  Hall's  "  Ireland. " 


the  party  had  to  return.  Meantime  the  defenders 
raised  some  batteries  in  the  night  time,  from  which 
they  greatly  annoyed  the  English.  At  last  Ginkle, 
foiled  at  Lanesborough,  tried  to  force  his  way  across 
the  bridge,  and  for  several  days  there  was  desperate 
fighting  in  the  nari'ow  roadway,  so  that  the  English, 
though  greatly  outnumbering  their  opponents,  were,  as 


CHAP.  LIII.]  ATHLONE  AND  AUGHKIM.  369 

Story  tells  us,  only  able  to  advance  inch  by  inch.  On 
the  bridge,  towards  the  Connaught  side,  stood  a  mill, 
worked  in  the  peaceful  days  of  the  past  by  the  cuiTent 
beneath.  In  this  building  64  Irish  were  stationed : 
but  it  was  set  on  fire  by  hand  grenades  from  the 
English  lines,  and  the  little  garrison,  being  unable  to 
escape,  were  burned  to  death,  all  but  two  who  leaped 
into  the  river  and  swam  to  land.  At  length  by  mere 
pressure  of  numbers  the  besiegers  obtained  possession  of 
the  greater  part  of  the  bridge,  though  not  till  very 
many  of  them  had  been  killed :  whereupon  the  de- 
fenders abandoned  it,  but  broke  down  one  arch  at  the 
Connaught  side. 

To  cross  that  broken  arch  was  now  Ginkle's  task. 
His  cannon  having  been  turned  on  the  farther  bank,  so 
that  as  one  of  the  spectators.  Colonel  Felix  O'jN^eill  of 
the  Irish  army,  tells  us,  ''a  cat  could  scarce  appear 
without  being  knocked  on  the  head  by  great  or  small 
shot,"  a  party,  under  cover  of  a  rude  wooden  shelter, 
dragged  a  number  of  planks  along  the  bridge,  and  suc- 
ceeded in  throwing  them  across  the  chasm ;  and  Ginkle's 
men  were  preparing  to  step  forward  on  the  perilous 
journey.  At  that  moment  a  volunteer  party  of  eleven 
Irish,  encasing  themselves  in  armour  and  helmets — for 
they  were  fully  aware  of  the  deadly  danger — rushed 
forward  and  began  to  pull  down  the  planks  and  hurl 
them  into  the  stream  beneath ;  but  they  were  met  by  a 
volley  from  the  English  lines ;  and  when  the  smoke  had 
cleared  away  every  man  of  the  little  band  was  seen 
lying  dead  or  wounded.  On  the  instant  another  party 
of  eleven,  untemfied  by  the  fate  of  their  comi'ades, 
stepped  forward,  and  dashing  in,  succeeded  in  tearing 
down  all  the  remaining  planks  :  but  again  the  deadly 
fire  did  its  work,  and  nine  of  the  eleven  fell.  Thus 
2b 


370  A  child's  history  of  IRELAND.      [CHAP.  LIII. 

foiled,  G inkle  made  another  attempt  by  constructing  a 
sort  of  long  wooden  shed  or  gallery,  which  was  filled 
with  men  and  pushed  across  the  narrow  bridge  way; 
but  the  Irish  contrived  to  set  it  on  fire,  and  the  men 
had  to  run  back  for  their  lives :  after  which  he  gave 
lip  all  idea  of  forcing  his  way  across  the  bridge. 

A  tremendous  cannonade  had  been  kept  up  incessantly 
for  ten  days,  during  which  12,000  cannon  balls,  500 
bombs,  and  many  tons  of  stones  had  been  discharged, 
and  50  tons  of  powder  had  been  consumed;  yet  the 
capture  of  the  town  seemed  as  far  off  as  ever.  An 
anxious  council  of  war  was  held ;  and  Ginkle,  in  despair, 
proposed  to  raise  the  siege,  for  provisions  were  running 
short ;  but  his  generals  prevailed  on  him  to  tiy  another 
plan.  The  season  had  been  unusually  dry,  and  it  was 
found  that  the  river  could  be  forded,  though  at  gi'eat 
risk,  at  a  point  about  sixty  yards  below  the  bridge. 
Here  it  was  resolved  to  make  an  attempt  to  cross.  St. 
Ruth  had,  on  the  day  before,  received  warning  of  the 
intended  attack  from  a  deserter.  But  in  his  overween- 
ing confidence  he  scoffed  at  it ;  feeling  quite  assured 
that  after  the  successful  defence  of  the  bridge,  no  other 
attempt  need  be  feared.  From  the  beginning  he  believed 
the  passage  of  the  river  impossible  :  "Ginkle  deserves  to 
be  hanged,"  said  he,  "  for  attempting  to  take  Athlone, 
while  I  am  here  with  so  great  an  army  to  defend  it ; 
and  I  shall  deserve  to  be  hanged  if  I  lose  it."  He 
was  earnestly  urged  by  Sarsfield  and  others  to  take 
precautions  ;  but  he  met  their  suggestions  with  insults, 
and  having  sent  a  small  party  of  untrained  recruits  to 
guard  the  deep  ford,  he  sat  down  in  his  tent  to  enjoy 
himself.  Ginkle  was  told  all  this  by  deserters,  so  that 
even  Story  is  able  to  record  how  matters  stood  on  the 
Irish  side  : — "  Thi-ee  of  the  most  indifferent  regiments 


CUAP.  LIII.j  ATHLOiNE  AND  AUGHRIM.  371 

in  the  Irish  army  were  on  guard,"  he  says,  "the  rest 
being  all  very  secui-e  in  their  camp." 

On  the  30th  June  1691,  a  volunteer  party  of  Grena- 
diers was  told  off  for  the  perilous  attempt,  "and  for  the 
greater  encouragement  of  the  Soldiers" — Story  goes  on  to 
say — "the  General  distributed  a  sum  of  Guineas  amongst 
them."  They  plunged  into  the  deep  and  rapid  river 
twenty  abreast,  and  with  great  resolution  made  their  way 
across  through  fire  and  smoke  ;  and  landing  with  hardly 
any  opposition,  some  of  them  laid  planks  over  the  bridge, 
while  others  fixed  some  boats  that  had  been  kept  ready, 
so  as  to  fonn  another  complete  bridge  across.  The 
small  party  of  Irish  had  been  taken  quite  by  sui'prise, 
and  in  less  than  half  an  hour  Ginkle  was  master  of  the 
town.  Thus  Athlone  was  captured  almost  within  sight 
of  the  whole  Irish  army,  when  a  little  care  and  vigi- 
lance would  have  rendered  the  passage  of  the  river 
impossible ;  and  the  heroism  of  the  noble  fellows  who 
had  sacrificed  their  lives  to  tear  down  the  planks  went 
for  nothing.  After  the  fight  was  over  the  body  of  the 
veteran,  Colonel  Richard  Grace,  was  found  imder  the 
ruins  of  the  castle  :  a  heroic  ending  to  a  heroic  life. 

The  Irish  officers  bitterly  reproached  St.  Euth  for 
the  loss  of  Athlone,  so  that  with  good  reason  he  became 
alarmed ;  and  fearing  the  displeasure  of  his  master 
King  Louis,  he  now  resolved  to  stake  all  on  the  result 
of  a  single  battle.  Falling  back  on  the  village  of 
Aughi'im  in  Galway,  four  miles  from  Ballinasloe,  he 
determined  to  make  a  stand  there ;  and  with  gi-eat 
judgment  he  selected  an  excellent  position  along  the 
ridge  of  Kilcommedan  hill,  beside  the  village,  with  a 
sluggish  stream  and  a  morass  in  the  low  ground  in 
front,  which  was  impassable  for  horse,  but  might  be 
crossed  by  foot.  At  both  ends  were  two  narrow 
2b2 


372  A  child's  history  of  Ireland,    [chap.  liii. 

passes  through  the  bog,  both  well  guarded ;  one  an  old 
causeway  to  the  Irish  left,  near  the  ruined  castle  of 
Aughrim,  the  other  on  the  right,  near  a  ford  over  a 
little  stream  at  a  place  called  Uraghree.  The  slope 
of  the  hill  in  front,  down  to  the  morass,  was  intersected 
by  fences,  which  were  all  lined  by  Irish  marksmen. 


Miii 


Plan  of  Battle  of  Augliriiii :  constructed  from  Story's  contemporary  plan. 

A.  Castle  and  Pass,  near  the  present  village  of  Aughrim.      U.  Pass  of  Uraghree. 
W,  W.  Ginkle's  army.  I,  I.   Irish  army. 

At  six  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the  12th  July, 
Ginkle's  army,  consisting  of  English,  Scotch,  and  Irish, 
with  French,   Danes,   and  Dutch,   set  out  from  their 

encampment  at  Eallinasloe  :  but  as  the 
a.d.  1691    morning  was  foggy,  there  was  a  pause  till 

near  mid-day,  when  an  advance  was 
made,  and  the  army  drew  up  in  battle  array  on  the 
heights  at  the  far  side  of  the  marsh.  There  were 
about  20,000  men  on  each  side.  It  is  proper  to  remark 
that  the  army  led  by  St.  Euth,  both  here  and  at 
Athlone,  was  purely  Irish,  as  he  brought  no  French 
soldiers  to  Ireland. 


CHAP.  LIII.]  ATHLONE  AND  AUGHRIM.  373 

Ginkle  attempted  to  force  the  Pass  of  Uraglirec,  but 
was  resisted  with  great  spirit,  the  numbers  engaged  at 
this  point  increasing  by  accessions  every  moment,  so 
that  what  was  at  first  a  skirmish  became  almost  a 
battle.  The  assailants,  after  several  repulses,  came  on 
doggedly  again  and  again,  and  at  last  gained  their  way 
through  the  pass,  but  were  set  upon  with  such  fuiy 
that  they  were  driven  back  in  confusion.  At  this 
dangerous  juncture  Ginkle,  after  a  hasty  council  of 
war  with  his  chief  officers,  determined  to  draw  off  for 
the  day,  and  defer  the  battle  till  next  morning.  Orders 
were  actually  given  to  this  effect,  when,  observing 
what  he  believed  to  be  some  disorderly  movements  on 
the  Irish  side,  he  resolved  to  renew  the  attempt.  A 
more  numerous  body  was  now  sent  to  TJraghree  with 
the  object  of  di'awing  St.  Ruth's  forces  from  the  pass 
at  Aughrim ;  and  at  half -past  four  the  battle  began 
afresh. 

The  plan  succeeded,  for  large  bodies  of  Irish  were 
withdrawn  fi'om  the  Aughrim  Pass  to  help  to  defend 
TJraghree ;  on  which  Ginkle  gave  an  order  for  a 
general  advance,  one  body  on  his  right  through  the 
causeway  at  the  castle,  and  the  main  body  of  infantry 
through  the  marsh  in  the  middle,  in  front  of  St.  Ruth's 
main  army.  The  castle  pass  was  defended  with  great 
determination,  and  while  the  fight  was  hottest  here, 
Ginkle's  main  body  succeeded  in  crossing  the  stream 
and  marsh,  though  up  to  their  middle  in  water  and  bog. 
They  fought  their  way  steadily  up  the  hill,  but  at  last 
a  terrible  onslaught  from  the  fences  forced  them  to 
recoil.  Again  and  again  they  advanced,  and  each  time 
they  were  diiven  back,  so  that  a  general  rout  seemed 
imminent.  St.  Ruth,  all  elated,  waved  his  hat  and 
exclaimed :   *'  The  day  is  oui's,  my  boys  !     We  shall 


874 


A  child's  history  of  IRELAND.      [cHAP.  LIII. 


now  diivo  them  back  to  the  gates  of  Dublin."  But 
immediately  after,  while  riding  down  the  hill  to  give 
some  orders  about  the  pass  at  the  castle,  he  was  struck 
by  a  cannon  ball  which  took  off  his  head.  This 
changed  the  whole  fortunes  of  the  day.     No  one  knew 


General  Ginkle.     From  an  oKl  print  in  the  National  Gallery.  Dublin. 


what  orders  to  give,  for  St.  Ruth  had  let  none  of  his 
officers  into  his  confidence.  There  was  one  man  who 
might  have    retrieved    the    disaster — Sarsfield.      But 


CHAP.  LIV.]    SECOND  SIEGE  AND  TREATY  OF  LIMERICK.    37 

St.  Euth,  who  hated  and  feared  him,  took  good  care  to 
keep  him  in  a  snhordinate  position  at  the  head  of  some 
horse,  far  in  the  rear,  with  directions  not  to  move 
without  express  orders ;  and  it  was  only  after  some 
time  that  he  was  made  aware  of  St.  Ruth's  fall  and  of 
the  success  of  the  English.  After  this,  the  only  service 
he  was  able  to  render  was  to  help  to  coyer  the  retreat 
of  the  Irish  infantiy  after  the  battle. 

Even  after  the  death  of  St.  Ruth,  the  contest  was 
obstinately  maintained  for  some  time ;  but  without  aim 
or  method.  At  last,  late  in  the  evening,  the  Irish  gave 
way.  A  great  number  who  had  taken  refuge  in  a  bog 
were  massacred ;  and  they  lost  altogether  probably 
5000  men.  Only  about  500  prisoners  were  taken,  and 
in  proportion  to  the  numbers  engaged,  this  was  the 
most  destructive  battle  in  the  whole  war. 

Galway  submitted  on  the  21st  of  July,  and  Sligo  in 
September,  both  on  favoui'able  terms,  their  ganisons 
being  allowed  to  march  to  Limerick. 


CHAPTER  LIV. 

THE    SECOND    SIEGE    AND    TREATY    OF    LIMERICK. 
A.D.  1691-1693. -William  and  Mary. 

ENERAL  GiNKLE,  after  his  victory  at  Aughrim, 
marched  southwards  for  another  attempt  on 
Limerick.  Tirconnell  proceeded  to  put  the 
city  in  a  state  of  defence :  but  he  died  of 
apoplexy  on  the  14th  August;  on  which 
the  chief  command  devolved  on  Sarsfield. 
On  the  30th  August,  just  a  year  after  the  memorable 


876 


A  child's  history  of  IRELAND.      [cHAP.  LIV. 


defence,  the  second  siege  began.     Ginkle's  first  opera- 
tion Wcas  a  bombardment  with  sixty  cannon 
A.D.  1691   and  nineteen  mortars,  from   which  were 
ponred  bombshells,  red-hot  balls,  and  car- 
casses ;  and  soon  the  city  was  on  fire  in  several  places  ; 
so  that  many  of  the  citizens,  muffiing  themselves  in 
their  bedclothes,  left  and  formed  an  encampment  in  the 
open  country  at  the    Clare  side,  beyond  the  reach  of 
the  missiles. 


Thomond  Bridge  in  1840.    From  Wright's  "  Ireland  Illustrated.' 


By  some  extraordinary  negligence  on  the  partjOf  a 
Jacobite  officer  named  Clifford — some  say.  byl  treachery 
— Ginkle  was  able  to  construct  a  pontoon  bridge  of  tin 
boats  across  the  river,  above  the  city,  near  St.  Thomas' 
Island,  and  to  send  a  detachment  to  occupy  the  Clare 
side.  On  the  22nd  September  an  attack  was  made  on 
the  fort  that  stood  at  the  Clare  end  of  Thomond  Bridge, 
which  was  for  a  time  obstinately  defended;  till  the 


CHAP.  LIV.]    SECOND  SIEGE  AND  TREATY  OF  LIMERICK.    877 

Irish  at  last,  oyerpowered  by  numbers,  had  to  retreat 
across  the  bridge.  The  town-major,  a  Frenchman, 
raised  the  drawbridge  too  soon  and  shut  out  600  of 
them,  who,  being  caught  between  the  drawbridge  and 
their  enemies,  could  make  no  defence,  and  though  hold- 
ing up  their  handkerchiefs,  in  token  of  surrender,  and 
calling  out  for  quarter,  were  all  massacred. 

There  was  now  a  short  truce,  and  negotiations  were 
set  on  foot  for  capitulation.  Both  sides  were  anxious 
to  end  the  war.  Ginkle  saw  no  prospect  of  being  able 
to  take  the  city  in  reasonable  time.  To  captui-e  it  at 
once  by  storm  he  considered  impracticable — having 
probably  the  experience  of  last  year  in  his  mind :  and 
he  was  in  great  distress  for  provisions,  so  that  if  there 
was  any  further  delay,  he  must,  as  he  said  in  one  of 
his  letters,  either  starve  or  begone.  "We  have  Story 
("  Continuation,"  p.  214)  expressing  himself  to  the 
same  effect: — "  Indeavouring  to  reduce  the  Town  by 
Force  with  such  a  little  Army  as  we  had  seeming 
dangerous,  considering  the  very  great  Strength  of  their 
Works  which  were  still  intire  though  the  Town  was 
much  shattered :  these  and  other  reasons  were  like  to 
render  it  a  Work  of  longer  time  than  at  first  we  hoped 
for,  and  the  Winter  [was]  now  drawing  on  apace." 
And  further  on  (page  279)  he  says : — "  And  though 
we  had  passed  the  river,  yet  we  were  as  far  fi^om 
entering  the  Town  as  ever."  The  cold  and  rainy  season 
was  siu-e  to  bring  pestilence  among  the  troops ;  at  the 
same  time  it  was  rumoured  that  aid  was  coming  from 
France.  The  arrival  of  the  French  might  prolong 
the  struggle  indefinitely,  the  consequence  of  which  no 
man  could  foresee;  for  William  and  his  government 
were  at  this  time  in  a  very  unsettled  position.  For  all 
these  weighty  reasons,  Ginkle  was  very  anxious  to  end 


878 


A  child's  HISTOUY  of  IKELAND.       [CHAP.  LIV. 

rant  any  reasonable  tcnns  as 


the  war,  and  willing  to 
the  price  of  surrender. 

Sarsfield  on  his  part,  saw  no  hope  in  further  unaided 
resistance.  Accordingly,  on  the  3rd  October,  a  Treaty 
of  Peace  was  signed  by  Ginklc  and  the  English  lords 
justices  on  the  one  hand,  and  on  the  other  by  Sarsfield, 
now  earl  of  Lucan,  and  by  others ;  and  it  was  confinned 


■^X^*"''' 


Treaty  Stone  as  it  appeared  Iialf  a  century  ago    recently  placed  on  a  pedestal 
From  Mrs.  Hall's  "Ireiand." 


by  King  William  a  short  time  afterwards.  The  stone 
on  which  it  was  signed  is  still  to  be  seen  on  a  pedestal 
beside  Thomond  Bridge.  We  shall  see  that  the  Treaty 
was  not  kept  by  the  government ;  but  for  this  violation 
King  William  was  not  to  blame.  This  ended  the  War 
of  the  Revolution;  and  William  and  Mary  were 
acknowledged  sovereigns  of  Ireland.  A  few  days 
afterwards  a  French  fleet  sailed  up  the  Shannon :  18 
ships  of  the  line  and  20  transports,  with  3000  soldiers, 
200  officers,  and  arms  and  ammunition  for  10,000  men ; 
but  Sarsfield  refused  to  receive  them,  and  honourably 
stood  by  the  treaty. 


CHAP.  LIV.]    SECOND  SIEGE  AND  TREATY  OF  LIMERICK.    379 

The  Treaty  of  Limerick  consisted  of  two  parts,  one 
Civil,  the  other  Military ;  containing  altogether  forty- 
two  articles.  The  most  important  of  the  civil  articles 
were  these  : — The  Irish  Roman  Catholics  were  to  have 
the  same  religious  liberty  as  was  consistent  with  the 
existing  law  of  the  land,  or  as  they  enjoyed  in  the 


Medal  struck  to  commemorate  the  surrender  of  Limerick.  King  and 
Queen  on  obverse.  Fame  sounding  trumpet  on  reverse,  with  city  in 
distance.    From  Ferrar's  "  History  of  Limerick,"  1787. 

reign  of  Charles  il.  (which  was  the  one  period  since 
the  Reformation  when  they  had  most  liberty) :  *  and 
"  the  oath  to  be  administred  to  such  Roman  Catholicks 
as  submit  to  Their  Majesties  Government,  shall  be  the 
Oath  [of  Allegiance]  afore-said,  and  no  other  "  (Ninth 
Article).     Those  in  arms  for  King  James  to  retain  the 


*  Here  are  the  very  words  of  this  portion  of  the  Treaty,  which  is 
the  first  article  of  the  Civil  part,  indicating  the  importance  attached 
to  it : — "  The  Roman  Catholicks  of  this  Kingdom  shall  enjoy  such 
Privileges  in  the  exercise  of  their  Religion  as  are  consistent  with 
the  Laws  of  Ireland,  or  as  they  did  enjoy  in  the  Reign  of  King 
Charles  the  Second ;  and  Their  Majesties  (as  soon  as  their  Affairs 
will  permit  them  to  summon  a  Parliament  in  this  Kingdom)  will 
endeavour  to  procure  the  said  Roman  Catholicks  such  further 
Security  in  that  Particular,  as  may  preserve  them  from  any  dis- 
turbance upon  the  account  of  their  said  Religion." 


580 


A  child's  history  of  IRELAND.      [CHAP.  LIV. 


estates  they  possessed  in  the  time  of  Charles  II.,  and 
to  be  permitted  to  freely  exercise  their  callings  and 
professions. 

The  principal  military  articles  were  : — The  garrison 
to  be  permitted  to  march  out  of  the  city  with  arms  and 
baggage,  drums  beating  and  colours  flying.  Those 
officers  and  soldiers  who  wished  might  go  to  any 
foreign  country,  the  government  to  provide  them  with 
ships  ;  those  who  chose  might  join  the  army  of  William 
and  Mary.  Ginkle  was  anxious  to  keep  these  soldiers 
in  the  king's  army;  but  only  1000  joined;  and  2000 
got  passes  for  their  homes.  More  than  20,000  sad 
exiles — among  them  Sarsfield — went  to  Brest  and 
entered  the  French  service.  These  formed  the  nucleus 
of  the  famous  Irish  Brigade,  who 
afterwards  distinguished  themselves 
in  many  a  battlefield  —  Eontenoy, 
Eamillies,  Blenheim,  Landen,  and 
others ;  always  led  by  Irish  officers, 
voluntary  exiles  like  themselves. 
Sarsfield,  after  brilliant  service,  fell 
mortally  wounded,  in  the  moment 
of  victory,  at  the  battle  of  Landen 
in  1693,  where  he  commanded  the 
left  wing  of  the  Prench  army.  It 
is  stated  that  while  lying  on  the 
ground,  seeing  his  hand  stained  with 
his  own  blood,  he  exclaimed  "Oh,  that  this  was  for 
Ireland  !  "  There  was  at  this  time  and  for  long  after, 
a  vast  exodus  of  the  very  flower  of  the  Irish  people 
to  the  Continent.  Between  1691  and  1745  it  is 
reckoned  that  450,000  Irishmen  died  in  the  service  of 
Trance ;  and  many,  who  if  they  had  remained  at  home 
would  have  lived  in  obscurity  and  degradation,  attained 


Sarsfield's  ring-.  From 
the  "Journal  of  the  Royal 
Society  of  Antiquaries  of 
Ireland,"  vol.  iv.,  5th  ser. 
1894,  p.  296. 


CHAP.   LIV.]    SECOND  SIEGE  AND  TEEATY  OF  LIMERICK.    381 

positions  of  influence  and  power  in  every  country  on 
the  Continent.  The  war  had  cost  the  English  about 
seven  millions,  representing  probably  fifty  millions  of 
oui'  money,  besides  vast  destruction  of  houses,  cattle, 
and  other  kinds  of  property. 

King  William  was  kindly  disposed  towards  the  Irish ; 
and  taking  advantage  of  the  Treaty,  he  restored  a  good 
part  of  their  estates,  and  granted  many  pardons.  Eut  he 
rewarded  his  followers  with  vast  tracts  of  land.  He 
created  Ginkle  earl  of  Athlone,  and  gave  him  26,000 
acres ;  and  to  others  he  gave  much  larger  estates.  Alto- 
gether he  made  seventy-six  land  grants  to  his  own  people. 

Lord    Sydney,    the   lord    lieutenant,    summoned   a 

parliament,  which  met  in  Dublin  on  the 

A.D.  1692    5th  October,  a  year  after  the  conclusion  of 

the  war:  the  first  held  since  1665,  with 

the  exception  of  that  of  King  James  (page  325).     It 

was  exclusively  Protestant ;  for  the  good  reason  that 

almost  the  first  thing  done  was  to  frame  an  Oath, to  be 

taken  by  all  members  of  both  houses,  that  the  chief 

Doctrines  of   the  Catholic  chuixh  were  false ;  though 

the  T^inth  Article  of  the  Treaty  had,  just  a  year  before, 

provided  that  the  Catholics  were  to  be  required  to  take 

only  the  Oath  of  Allegiance.     Sydney,  as  representing 

the  king,  opposed  the  measure ;  but  it  was  carried  in 

spite  of  him;  whereupon  all  the  Catholics  present  in 

both  houses  walked  out. 

In  the  course  of  its  proceedings  this  parliament 
declared  that  it  was  independent  of  that  of  England ; 
and  though  granting  a  supply  of  money  to  the  king,  it 
rejected  a  money  bill  sent  from  England,  on  the  ground 
that  it  had  not  been  originated  in  the  Irish  Commons. 
This  may  be  regarded  as  the  beginning  of  the  long 
contest  between  the  English  and  Irish  parliaments,  to 


382  A  child's  history  of  Ireland,      [chap,  lv 

be  related  in  subsequent  chapters.  Sydney  was  so 
indignant  at  this  refractory  proceeding  that  he  twice 
prorogued  this  parliament,  which  was  finally  dissolved 
on  the  5th  ^"ovcmber  1693. 

There  was  now  another  confiscation,  as  will  be 
further  related  in  next  chapter.  In  less  than  a  cen- 
tury there  had  been  thi'ee  great  confiscations  in  Ireland, 
the  old  proprietors  being  in  all  cases  dispossessed  : — 
the  first  after  the  Geraldine  and  0']^eill  rebellions ;  the 
second  in  the  time  of  Cromwell;  and  the  third  after 
the  conquest  by  King  William.  These  thi'ee  comprised 
the  whole  island,  except  the  estates  of  about  half  a 
dozen  families  of  English  blood.  Moreover,  the  three 
confiscations  sometimes  overlapped;  so  that  large 
portions  were  confiscated  twice,  and  some  three  times 
over,  within  that  period.  As  the  result  of  all,  only 
about  a  seventh  of  the  land  of  all  Ireland  was  left  in 
the  hands  of  the  Catholics.  The  Catholics  of  old 
English  blood  were  involved  in  this  general  ruin,  so  far 
as  their  numbers  went,  as  well  as  those  of  the  native 
Celtic  race. 


CHAPTER  LV. 

THE      PENAL      LAWS. 

yEFOEE    resuming   our  regular    narrative,    it  is 
necessary  that  we  here  turn  aside  to  describe 
the  penal  and  repressive  legislation  that  fol- 
lowed the  capitulation  of  Limerick,   which 
will  be  done  in  this  chapter  and  the  next. 
The  Irish  Catholics  were  now  crushed  and 
dispirited ;  they  were  quite  helpless,  for  their  best  men 


CHAP.  LV.]  THE  PENAL  LAWS.  383 

had  gone  to  France  ;  and  all  hope  of  resistance  was  at  an 
end.  Yet  the  Treaty  of  Limerick  remained  ;  and  they 
had  the  consolation  of  feeling  that  in  that  agreement 
they  had  secui-ed  tolerable  conditions.  But  here  they 
were  doomed  to  a  woful  disappointment.  The  Irish 
parliament,  with  the  full  concuiTence  of  the  English 
authorities,  refused  to  cany  out  the  treaty  in  its  most 
important  parts ;  though,  as  we  have  seen,  it  was 
purchased  by  most  valuable  concessions  on  the  part  of 
the  Irish  commanders,  and  had  been  solemnly  guaran- 
teed, first  by  Ginkle  and  the  Irish  lords  justices,  and 
next  by  King  William  himself.  '^  Since  the  Irish,^^ 
says  Story  ("  Continuation,"  p.  279),  "  had  it  still  in 
their  power  [before  the  treaty  was  made]  to  give  us 
the  Town  or  to  keep  it  to  themselves,  I  see  no  Reason 
why  they  ought  not  to  make  a  Bargain  for  it,  and 
expect  the  performance  of  their  Contract,  which  Their 
Majesties  have  been  graciously  pleased  to  ratifie  under 
the  Great  Seal  of  England."  AVe  may  fairly  conjecture 
that  when  Story  (who,  it  will  be  remembered,  was  one 
of  King  William's  chaplains)  wrote  these  remarkable 
words  in  1691,  he  had  some  suspicions  and  fears  that 
the  treaty  would  not  be  kept :  and  that  he  wi'ote 
them  in  a  generous  spirit  to  advocate  its  faithful  ful- 
filment. 

The  violation  of  the  Treaty  greatly  displeased  King 
"William,  who  would  have  honourably  kept  to  his 
part  of  the  agreement,  as  Sarsfield  did  on  his  side 
when  he  refused  to  admit  the  French  fleet.  For 
William  was  not  disposed  to  oppress  anyone  on  account 
of  religion  ;  and  he  was  often  heard  to  declare  that  he 
came  over  to  deliver  the  Protestants  hut  not  to  persecute 
the  Catholics.  It  does  not  appear,  indeed,  that  he  ever 
redeemed  his  pledge,  made  in  the  fii^st  Article  of  the 


384  A  child's  history  of  ieeland.     [chap.  lv. 

Treaty  (p.  379,  note)  to  try  to  procure  further  religious 
security  for  the  Catholics  :  but,  no  doubt,  he  thought 
it  would  be  useless — as  it  certainly  would  have  been — 
to  attempt  to  move  either  the  Irish  or  the  English  par- 
liament in  that  direction. 

After  the  conclusion  of  the  War  of  the  Revolution,  the 
government  of  Ireland  was  completely  in  the  hands  of 
the  small  Protestant  minority,  who  also  possessed  almost 
the  whole  of  the  land  of  the  country ;  and  they  held 
nearly  all  the  offices  of  trust  and  emolument.  And 
now,  not  only  did  they  refuse  to  carry  out  the  Treaty, 
but  they  went  much  farther  by  passing  a  number  of 
Penal  Laws,  which,  so  long  as  they  remained  in  force, 
would  keep  down  the  Catholics,  who  formed  foui'-fifths 
of  the  population,  and  would  secure  for  the  Protestant 
minority  the  great  possessions  and  privileges  they 
already  enjoyed. 

Before  1695  there  were  many  penal  enactments 
against  Irish  Catholics,  with  the  main  object  of  com- 
pelling them  to  abandon  their  own  religion  and  to 
adopt  the  doctrines  and  forms  of  worship  of  the 
Eef  oiination ;  but  they  were  passed  only  at  long  in  • 
tervals,  and  the  authorities,  for  various  reasons,  were 
not  always  anxious,  or  were  not  able,  to  have  them 
carried  out.  But  after  that  date  they  came  in  quick 
succession,  growing  more  and  more  severe  as  time  went 
on  ;  till  they  reached  their  worst  phases  chiefly  in  the 
first  years  of  the  reign  of  Queen  Anne,  and  partly  in 
the  reign  of  George  II.  ;  and  they  were  generally 
enforced,  so  far  as  lay  in  the  power  of  the  authorities. 
These  repressive  laws  were  mostly  the  work  of  the 
Irish  parliament,  but  the  English  parliament  sometimes 
stepped  in  and  lent  its  aid.  The  Code  remained  in 
full  force  for  about  thi^ee-quarters  of  a  century,  when 


CHAP.  LV.]         THE  PENAL  LAWS.  385 

it  began  to  be  relaxed,  though  by  very  small  degrees 
at  first.  Gradually,  and  very  slowly,  the  worst  of 
the  enactments  were  repealed,  one  by  one,  as  will  be 
noticed  in  the  proper  places  as  we  go  along,  till,  with 
the  exception  of  some  particulars,  the  Emancipation 
Act  of  1829  put  an  end  to  the  disabilities  of  Irish 
Catholics.  It  will  be  convenient  to  bring  the  leading 
enactments  of  the  whole  Penal  Code  into  this  chapter, 
though  it  will  oblige  us  to  run  a  little  in  advance  in 
point  of  time. 

The  parliament  of  1692,  as  related  in  the  last  chapter, 
led  the  way  by  framing  an  oath  to  exclude  Catholics 
from  parliament,  contrary  to  the  J^inth  Article  of  the 
Treaty.  But  the  really  active  penal  legislation  was 
entered  upon  by  the  parliament  which  met  in  Dublin 
in  1695.  Their  first  proceeding  was  to  introduce  a 
bill  *'for  the  confirmation  of  Articles  made  at  the 
Treaty  of  Limerick  "  :  and  thereupon  they  confii-med 
all  the  minor  provisions  of  the  Treaty  and  omitted  all 
the  important  ones.  This  bill  passed  easily  thi'ough 
the  House  of  Commons ;  but  it  was  vigorously  resisted 
in  the  upper  House  by  a  powerful  minority  of  Irish 
lords — all  Protestants  be  it  remembered — who  vehem- 
ently condemned  such  breach  of  faith.  And  when,  in 
spite  of  opposition,  the  bill  was  at  length  passed,  a 
number  of  them,  including  seven  Protestant  bishops, 
signed  a  strong  protest  against  it.  Having  thus  secured 
what  amounted  to  the  rejection  of  the  Treaty,  this  par- 
liament, dui'ing  the  sessions  of  1695  and  1697,  passed 
a  number  of  penal  laws,  of  which  the  following  are  the 
most  important : — 

Catholic  schoolmasters  were  forbidden  to  teach,  either 
in  schools  or  in  private  houses,  and  Catholic  parents 
were  forbidden  to  send  their  children  to  any  foreign 
2c 


886  A  child's  history  of  IRELAND.        [CHAP.  LV 

country  to  be  educated;  from  which  it  will  be  seen 
that  care  was  takeu  to  deprive  Catholics — as  such — 
altogether  of  the  means  of  education. 

Although  the  Treaty  secui'ed  to  the  Catholic  gentry  of 
certain  specified  counties  the  possession  of  their  estates, 
the  parliament  dispossessed  them  all,  and  seized  their 
lands,  which  they  gave  to  others. 

Catholics  were  to  deliver  up  their  arms ;  and  if  a 
magistrate  suspected  that  there  were  any  in  the  house 
of  a  Catholic,  he  might  make  a  search,  and  if  refused 
admission,  might  break  open  the  door.  If  a  Catholic 
"had  a  valuable  horse,  any  Protestant  might  take  posses- 
sion of  it  by  offering  £5 — which  answers  to  about  £30 
of  oui'  present  money. 

The  existing  parish  priests  were  not  to  be  disturbed ; 
but  all  had  to  be  registered  in  a  government  book,  and 
had  to  give  security  for  good  behaviour.  About  a 
thousand  were  registered ;  and  these  were  allowed  to 
celebrate  Mass,  but  they  could  keep  no  curates.  It 
was  ordained  that  all  other  Catholic  clergy — bishops, 
Jesuits,  fi'iars,  monks,  and  the  E-egular  clergy  of  every 
order — should,  under  penalties,  quit  the  kingdom  by 
the  1st  May  1698  ;  and  any  who  returned  were  adjudged 
guilty  of  high  treason,  of  which  the  punishment  was 
death.  This  would  of  course,  after  some  time,  leave 
the  people  altogether  without  priests  ;  for  according  as 
the  existing  clergy  died  out,  there  would  be  none  to 
take  their  places,  since  a  priest  could  not  be  ordained 
without  a  bishop.  Several  hundreds  of  those  against 
whom  the  decree  was  directed  left  the  country;  but 
many  remained,  including  some  bishops,  who  dis- 
guised and  concealed  themselves  as  best  they  could. 
It  was  ordered  that  no  Catholic  chapel  should  have 
either  steeple  or  bells.    There  were  many  other  stringent 


CHAP.  LV.]  THE  PENAL  LAWS.  387 

measures  passed  by  this  parliament,  which  it  would  be 
tedious  to  enumerate. 

This  was  the  first  instalment  of  the  Penal  Code  ;  but 
it  was  followed  by  much  worse.  When,  a  few  years 
later,  the  Duke  of  Ormond  (grandson  of  Onnond  of  the 
Confederate  times)  came  over  as  lord  lieutenant,  the 
House  of  Commons  petitioned  him  for  a  fui'ther  exten- 
sion of  the  penal  legislation;  though  the  reason  why  is 
hard  to  make  out ;  for  the  Catholic  people  had  been 
quiet  and  submissive,  and  had  given  no  provocation 
whatever.  Yet  Ormond  consented;  and  in  1704  an  act 
was  passed,  of  which  the  following  were  the  most  impor- 
tant provisions.  If  the  eldest  son  of  a  Roman  Catholic 
with  landed  property  declared  himself  a  Protestant,  he 
became  the  owner  of  all  his  father's  land,  and  the 
father  sank  to  the  position  of  life-tenant ;  and  if  any 
other  child,  no  matter  how  young,  professed  that  he 
was  a  Protestant,  he  was  placed  under  a  Protestant 
guardian,  and  the  father  had  to  pay  all  the  expenses 
of  separate  maintenance  and  education.  One  very  bad 
feature  of  these  provisions  was  that  they  encoui'aged 
baseness,  by  tempting  childi'en  to  the  unnatui'al  course, 
of  turning  against  their  own  parents  for  the  sake  of 
mere  gain.  If  the  wife  of  a  Catholic  became  a  Pro- 
testant, she  could  claim  separate  support  from  his  estate, 
and  one-third  of  all  his  other  property,  ^o  Catholic 
could  be  a  guardian  to  a  child  :  so  that  when  a  father 
who  had  young  children  felt  himself  dying,  his  last 
hours  were  troubled  by  the  consciousness  that  his 
children  were  likely  to  be  brought  up  Protestants. 

"No  Catholic  was  permitted  to  purchase  land,  or  even 

to  take  a  lease  of  land  for  life  (which  was  called  a 

freehold  lease),  or  for  longer  than  31  years  :  and  if  land 

descended  to  a  Catholic  as  heir  to  some  former  owner, 

2c2 


388  A  child's  history  of  Ireland,      [chap.  lv. 

or  if  land  was  left  to  him  by  will ;  in  neither  case  could 
he  accept  it.  The  profit  of  a  Catholic's  farm,  over  and 
above  the  rent,  was  never  to  exceed  one-thii'd  of  that 
rent ;  and  if  any  Protestant  proved  that  the  profit 
realised  was  more  than  that,  he  could  take  possession  of 
the  farm.  The  intention  of  all  these  provisions  was  to 
make  it  impossible  for  Catholics  ever  again  to  own  any 
part  of  the  land  of  the  country. 

]N^o  person  could  vote  at  an  election  for  a  Member  of 
Parliament  without  taking  an  oath  that  the  Catholic 
religion  was  false.  A  Catholic  could  not  hold  any  office 
either  in  the  Civil  or  Military  Service  without  taking 
the  same  oath  and  submitting  to  the  *'  Sacramental 
Test,"  that  is,  receiving  the  Sacrament  on  Sundays  in 
some  Protestant  place  of  worship,  according  to  the  rite 
of  the  Established  Church.  This  last  item  of  the  Code 
is  what  is  called  the  Test  Act ;  and  it  applied  to  the 
Presbyterians  and  other  ^on- conformists  as  well  as  to 
the  Catholics ;  for  they  have  special  rites  of  their  own. 

Later  on — in  the  first  year  of  the  reign  of  George  II. — 
the  Catholics  were  wholly  disfranchised,  that  is,  they 
were  forbidden  to  vote  at  an  election  under  any  cir- 
cumstances whatever.  No  Catholic  was  to  be  permitted 
to  come  to  live  in  the  cities  of  Limerick  or  Gal  way ; 
but  those  who  were  residing  in  them  at  the  time  were 
allowed  to  remain,  provided  they  gave  security  for 
good  behaviour  :  but  this  law  soon  became  a  dead  letter, 
for  it  was  found  impossible  to  have  it  carried  out. 

Eewards  were  offered  for  the  discovery  of  bishops, 
Jesuits,  unregistered  priests,  and  schoolmasters  :  and 
whenever  such  a  reward  was  earned,  the  Catholics  had 
to  pay  it.  Very  determined  measures  were  taken, 
moreover,  to  have  this  law  enforced.  In  the  last  year 
of  Queen  Anne's  reign  (1714),  the  English  parliament 


CHAP.  LV.]  THE  PENAL  LAWS.  889 

extended  to  Ireland  the  ''Schism  Act,"  which  or- 
dained that  no  person  could  teach  a  school  unless  he  had 
a  license  from  the  Protestant  bishop  :  and  this  license 
could  not  he  granted  unless  the  applicant  submitted  to 
the  Sacramental  Test. 

In  the  foregoing  sketch,  only  the  main  provisions  of 
the  Penal  Code  have  been  enumerated. 

These  laws  were  mainly  intended  to  suppress  the 
Catholic  religion.  But  they  had  no  effect  whatever  in 
making  the  people  conform,  as  is  shown  by  the  fact 
that  twenty  years  later,  we  find  the  Irish  parliament 
complaining  of  the  continued  increase  of  Catholicity, 
and  proposing  other  measures  for  its  suppression  of  so 
violent  a  character  that  the  English  authorities  refused 
to  sanction  them. 

The  Catholics  were  not  the  only  people  who  suffered 
imder  this  legislation.  In  a  very  little  time  the  "  Test 
Act"  and  the  ''Schism  Act"  were  brought  to  bear 
against  the  Ulster  Presbyterians,  who  were  now  sub- 
jected to  bitter  persecution :  for  they  refused  either  to 
apply  to  the  bishop  for  Licenses  to  teach  in  schools,  or 
to  receive  the  Sacrament  according  to  the  English  rite. 
They  were  expelled  fi'om  BeKast  and  Derry,  they  were 
dismissed  from  the  magistracy,  prohibited  from  teaching 
school,  their  marriages  were  declared  void,  and  the 
Eegium  Donum,  an  annual  gi'ant  given  by  King 
"William  to  their  clergy,  was  stopped  for  the  time. 
But  they  bore  it  all  with  steady  resolution  rather  than 
violate  their  principles.  Many,  however,  took  another 
course.  It  will  be  related  in  the  next  chapter  how  the 
ruin  of  the  wool  trade,  in  1698,  di'ove  numbers  of 
Presbyterians  to  emigrate  to  New  England  (p.  397)  : 
and  as  the  distress  continued,  so  also  did  the  emigra- 
tion.    But  it  was  greatly  increased  by  these  religious 


390  '\  child's  history  of  Ireland,      [chap.  lv. 

hardships ;  aiid  iiow  the  Presbyterians  went  off  in  large 
numbers.  Tliis  alarmed  the  government,  as  it  increased 
the  relative  proportion  of  Catholics ;  yet  they  obstinately 
retained  these  two  acts,  though  earnestly  recommended 
to  repeal  them  by  successive  lord  lieutenants  :  and  so 
the  exodus  continued.  For  a  long  period  about  the 
middle  of  the  century,  it  is  calculated  that  12,000 
emigrated  every  year  fi'om  Ulster.  The  sufferings  of  the 
Presbyterians,  however,  though  bitter  for  the  time,  were 
trifling  and  brief  compared  with  those  of  the  Catholics. 

It  would  be  unjust  to  view  these  laws  as  if  they 
stood  alone.  In  many  parts  of  Europe  at  the  time, 
there  were  stringent  penal  laws  :  of  Protestants  against 
Catholics  in  some  countries  :  of  Catholics  against  Pro- 
testants in  others :  a  fact  that  must  be  carefully  borne 
in  mind  in  revievring  this  legislation.  But  in  at  least 
two  respects  the  Irish  laws  contrasted  unfavourably 
with  other  penal  codes.  In  all  other  countries  it  was 
the  great  majority  persecuting  a  small  sect,  to  force 
them  into  religious  compliance  with  the  general  body : 
in  Ireland  alone  was  the  attempt  made  by  a  small 
minority  to  suppress  the  religion  of  the  whole  nation 
among  whom  they  lived.  But  perhaps  the  worst  feature 
of  the  Irish  enactments  was  that  they  were  made  in 
open  breach  of  public  faith. 

To  us,  looking  back  at  those  evil  times  from  a  distance 
of  nearly  two  centuries,  the  picture  is  not  wholly  black. 
There  are  spots  brightened  by  humanity,  which,  when 
well  considered,  should  stir  up  feelings  of  mutual  kind- 
liness among  the  people  of  the  present  day.  It  will  be 
good  to  point  out  a  few  of  these  relieving  features. 

It  was  the  governing  classes  that  made  those  terrible 
penal  laws ;  the  general  body  of  the  Protestant  people, 
whether  in  England  or  Ireland,  had  no  hand  in  them. 


CHAP.  LV.]         THE  PENAL  LAWS.  391 

And  when  tlie  laws  came  into  operation,  a  large  propor- 
tion of  Irish  Protestants,  all  through  the  country,  looked 
upon  them  with  silent  disapproval,  and  did  a  great 
deal  in  a  quiet  way  to  protect  their  Catholic  neighbours ; 
just  as  many  Catholics — both  clergy  and  laymen — in 
1641,  and  subsequently  in  1798,  saved  their  Protestant 
friends  from  the  fuiy  of  the  mob.  This  was  especially 
the  case  where  property  was  concerned.  A  Catholic 
gentleman,  when  in  danger  of  losing  his  land  through 
some  one  of  the  means  provided  by  law,  told  his  story 
to  his  Protestant  neighbour,  who  on  the  spot  purchased 
the  estate,  or  rather  pretended  to  pui'chase  it,  di^awing 
out  a  regular  agreement  and  taking  over  the  title  deeds, 
but  paying  no  purchase  money.  He  was  now  the 
owner  according  to  law,  and  received  the  rents,  but 
secretly  handed  them  over  to  his  Catholic  friend  as 
they  came  in  ;  and  this  continued  generally  during  the 
lives  of  the  two,  and  often  during  the  lives  of  their 
children  and  grandchildren,  till  the  repeal  of  the  statute 
enabled  land  and  deeds  to  be  restored  to  the  owners. 
Cases  such  as  this  were  quite  common  all  over  the 
country  :  and  among  the  Protestant  gentry  it  was  con- 
sidered a  special  point  of  honour  to  keep  and  restore 
the  property  undiminished,  faithfully,  and  without  fee 
or  reward.  Many  a  Catholic  gentleman  holds  his 
estate  at  this  day  through  the  kind  feeling  of  the 
ancestors  of  his  present  Protestant  neighbour's. 

So  also  it  often  happened  that  a  dying  Catholic,  with 
young  children,  sent  for  his  Protestant  friend  and  com- 
plied outwardly  with  the  law  by  leaving  them  to  his 
guardianship,  with  the  secret  understanding  that  they 
should  be  educated  by  some  Catholic  selected  by  the 
family ;  and  there  is  good  reason  to  believe  that  guar- 
dians thus  appointed  were  generally  faithful  to  their 


392  A  child's   history  of  IRELAND.        [cHAP.   LV. 

trust :  often  at  great  risk  to  themselves.  The  enact- 
ment about  the  horse  of  more  than  £5  value  was  taken 
advantage  of  only  in  a  very  few  cases ;  and  Catholic 
gentlemen  continued  to  hunt  and  race  and  drive 
equipages  with  valuable  horses,  among  the  Protestant 
gentry,  without  any  molestation  during  the  whole 
time  the  law  remained  in  force. 

While  many  magistrates  were  active  in  seeing  the 
law  carried  out,  there  were  others  more  under  the  in- 
fluence of  good  feeling.  One  of  these,  suppose,  received 
information  that  some  banned  priest  or  schoolmaster 
was  hiding  in  the  neighbourhood  ;  but  he  intentionally 
delayed,  or  went  to  the  wrong  spot,  or  met  with  some 
trifling  accident,  or  sent  word  secretly :  and  at  last 
arrived  at  the  hiding  place,  looking  very  wicked,  only 
to  find  the  culprit  gone. 

In  other  ways  the  operation  of  these  cruel  laws  was 
mitigated,  and  it  often  turned  out  that  matters  were 
not  quite  so  bad  with  Catholics  as  the  lawmakers  in- 
tended. Evasions  were  very  often  winked  at,  even 
where  well-known.  Catholic  bishops  remained  all 
thi'ough  in  the  country  in  spite  of  every  effort  to  dis- 
cover them,  li^-ing  in  huts  in  remote  places  under 
various  disguises,  and  meeting  their  congi^egations  by 
night  in  wild  glens  and  bogs.  Young  priests  who  had 
been  educated  abroad  managed  to  return,  and  took  up 
their  duties  though  not  registered.  But  such  breaches 
and  evasions  were  always  *veiy  dangerous,  and  might  at 
any  moment  end  in  detection  and  punishment.  Then 
as  to  education.  Many  priests  kept  schoolmasters,  who 
taught  in  sheds  put  up  in  remote  glens,  or  they  instructed 
individual  scholars,  in  a  scrappy  kind  of  way,  in  fields  or 
lanes;  which  however  was  only  a  flickering  sort  of  educa- 
tion, that  could  not  reach  the  general  mass  of  the  people. 


CHAP.  LV.]  THE  PENAL  LAWS.  393 

In  one  very  important  particular  the  penal  code  failed 
to  reach  the  Catholics.  Though  they  were  shut  out 
from  the  ownership  of  land,  and  from  the  professions, 
many  branches  of  business  lay  open  to  them ;  so  that 
numbers  of  Catholics  prospered  in  trade,  and  became 
rich,  with  no  power  to  hinder  them,  especially  in  large 
towns  and  seaports. 

Along  with  all  this,  it  is  well  known  that  towards 
the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  centuiy,  though  the  worst 
of  the  penal  statutes  remained  in  force,  many  of  them 
were  quietly  suffered  to  fall  into  disuse,  so  that 
Catholics  began  to  bestir  themselves  a  little,  and  to 
hope  for  better  times.  In  some  parts  of  the  country 
too,  there  was  such  an  overwhelming  preponderance  of 
Catholics,  that  even  in  the  worst  of  the  penal  times 
it  was  impossible  to  have  the  laws  enforced. 

But  making  every  allowance  for  kindliness,  protection, 
evasion,  and  non- enforcement  of  the  law,  the  Catholic 
people  underwent  terrible  sufferings  for  three  or  four 
generations  ;  and  no  one  who  has  not  read  the  detailed 
histoiy  of  those  times  can  have  any  idea  of  the  sort  of 
life  they  led.  Though  the  Penal  Code  quite  failed  to 
make  them  Protestants,  it  succeeded  perfectly  in  crush- 
ing, impoverishing,  and  degrading  them.  Deprived  of 
the  means  of  education  and  advancement,  the  great 
body  sank  in  the  end  into  such  a  state  of  listless  igno- 
rance and  poverty,  and  became  so  downtrodden  and 
oppressed  with  a  sense  of  inferiority,  that  after  their 
disabilities  had  been  removed  and  the  way  had  been 
cleared  for  them,  it  took  them  many  generations  more 
to  recover  anything  like  the  position  of  independence, 
self  respect,  and  influence,  they  had  enjoyed  before  the 
penal  times. 


Sculpture  on  Window  :  Cathedral  Church.  Glendalough  :   Berangcr,  1/79. 
From  Petrie's  "Round  Towers." 


CHAPTER   LVI. 

LAWS  TO  DEPRESS  IRISH  TRADE  AND  ilANUFACTITRE. 

HE  Penal  Laws  described  in  the  last  chapter 
applied  mainly  to   Catholics  :    but    the 
repressive  code  now  about  to  be  described 
oppressed  Irishmen  of  all  creeds. 

Ireland  has  a  good  climate,  a  fertile 
soil,  and  a  fair  supply  of  minerals  ;  and  towards  the  end 
of  the  seventeenth  centiuy,  in  spite  of  wars  and  other 
troubles,  several  branches  of  manufacture,  trade,  and 
commerce  were  flourishing.  But  the  traders  and  mer- 
chants of  England  fancied  that  the  prosperity  of  Ireland 
was  a  loss  to  them,  by  drawing  away  custom  ;  and  in 
their  shortsighted  and  selfish  jealousy,  they  persuaded 
the  English  parliament — which,  indeed,  needed  little 
persuasion — to  ruin  almost  the  whole  trade  of  Ireland. 
As  in  the  case  of  the  penal  enactments  touching  religion, 
it  will  be  convenient  to  bring  all  the  main  provisions  of 
this  Code  into  one  chapter. 

This  legislation  was  generally  the  work  of  the 
English  parliament  alone ;  but  sometimes  the  Irish 
parliament  followed  in  the  same  direction ;  and,  in 
obedience  to  orders,  passed  acts  impoverishing  their  own 
country.     It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  religion  had 


CHAP.  LVI.]       LAWS  TO  REPRESS  IRISH  TRADE.  396 

notlimg  to  do  with  these  proceedings,  which  are  all  the 
more  to  be  wondered  at,  seeing  that  the  blow  fell  chiefly 
on  Irish  Protestants ;  for  at  this  time  the  general  body 
of  the  Catholics  were  barely  able  to  live,  and  could  do 
very  little  as  a  body  in  the  way  of  industries.  But  the 
English  traders  cared  nothing  for  all  this  ;  they  wanted 
to  destroy  Irish  trade  for  their  own  gain ;  and  whether 
the  ruin  fell  on  Protestants,  Presbyterians,  or  Catholics, 
was  a  matter  of  indifference  to  them. 

Down  to  1663  Irish  merchants  had  been  in  the 
habit  of  exporting  goods  of  various  kinds  to  different 
foreign  countries,  especially  to  the  British  colonies  all 
over  the  world;  and  as  Ireland  is  a  good  gi'azing 
country,  a  flourishing  trade  was  also  carried  on  by  the 
export  of  Irish  cattle  to  England.  N'ow,  an  end  was 
put  to  all  this ;  for  several  acts  were  passed  in  the 
English  parliament  from  1663  to  1680  prohibiting  Irish 
merchants  from  exporting  or  importing  any  goods  to  or 
from  the  colonies  ;  and  the  export  of  cattle,  sheep,  pigs, 
beef,  pork,  mutton,  butter,  and  cheese,  to  England,  was 
altogether  stopped.  Thus  the  chief  Irish  industry  was 
destroyed  ;  and  the  people,  being  unable  to  find  a  mar- 
ket for  the  produce  of  theii'  farms,  fell  at  once  into 
poverty. 

Yet  the  Irish  did  not  despaii'.  Driven  fi'om  cattle- 
rearing,  they  applied  themselves  to  other  industries, 
especially  that  of  wool,  for  which  the  countiy  is  well 
suited.  In  those  times  Irish  wool  was  considered  the 
best  in  Europe ;  and,  notwithstanding  the  measures  of 
Wentworth  to  cripple  this  trade  (p.  286),  it  began  to 
flourish  again,  and  was  rapidly  rising  to  be  a  great 
national  industry,  which  was  carried  on  almost  ex- 
clusively by  the  Protestant  colonists.  But  this,  too, 
was  doomed.     The  English  cloth  dealers,  taking  the 


396  A  child's  history  of  IRELAND.        [OHAP.  LVI. 

alarm,  potitioncd  in  1698  to  have  it  suppressed  :  and 
King  William,  in  the  speech  from  the  throne,  promised 
to  discourage  the  Irish  wool  trade,  to  encourage  the 
Irish  linen  trade,  and  to  promote  the  trade  of  England. 

It  is  worthy  of  remark  that  in  their  petitions  and 
addresses,  the  English  never  made  the  least  secret  of 
what  they  wanted,  namely,  to  destroy  Irish  trade  for 
their  own  benefit.  When  the  traders  sent  forward 
their  petition  about  wool  in  1698,  the  English  House 
of  Lords,  in  a  petition  to  the  king,  say  : — "  The  grow- 
ing manufacture  of  cloth  in  Ireland,  both  by  the  cheap- 
ness of  all  sorts  of  necessaries  of  life,  and  goodness  of 
materials  for  making  all  manner  of  cloth,  .  .  .  makes 
your  loyal  subjects  in  this  kingdom  rery  apprehensive 
that  the  further  gi'owth  of  it  may  greatly  prejudice 
the  said  manufacture  here."  And,  in  the  same  year, 
the  people  of  Aldborough  and  Eolkstone  petitioned  that 
the  inhabitants  of  the  eastern  coast  of  Ireland  should  be 
stopped  from  fishing  and  selling  their  fish,  because  of 
the  injury  done  "by  the  Irish  catching  herrings  at 
Waterford  and  Wexford  and  sending  them  to  the 
Straits,  and  thereby  forestalling  and  ruining  peti- 
tioners' markets."  And  other  such  instances  might 
be  cited. 

The  upshot  of  the  agitation  against  the  wool  trade 
was  that,  in  1699,  the  ser\dle  Irish  parliament,  acting 
on  directions  from  the  other  side,  put  an  export  duty  of 
four  shillings  per  lb.  on  fine  woollen  cloths,  and  two 
shillings  per  lb.  on  frieze  and  flannel,  knowing  well  that 
this  was  sui-e  to  ruin  their  Protestant  fellow-countrymen. 
The  English  parliament  followed  up  this  measure  by 
passing  an  act  prohibiting  the  Irish  fi^om  exporting 
either  wool  or  woollen  goods  to  any  part  of  the  world 
except  a  few  specified  seaport  towns  in  England ;  and  it 


CHAP.  LVI.]      LAWS  TO  REPRESS  IRISH  TRADE.  397 

was  forbidden  to  ship  woollens  even  to  these  except 
from  Dublin,  Cork,  and  four  other  Irish  seaports. 

These  acts  accomplished  all  that  the  English  mer- 
chants looked  for :  they  ruined  the  Irish  wool  trade. 
The  heavy  duty  the  Irish  wool  merchants  had  to  pay 
obliged  them  to  put  such  a  price  on  their  goods  that 
they  found  it  impossible  to  sell  them  in  England ;  so 
the  trade  was  stopped  altogether,  just  as  the  law- 
makers intended.  The  woollen  mills  ceased  to  work, 
the  work-people  were  turned  idle,  and  the  build- 
ings went  to  ruin.  Forty  thousand  Irish  Protestants 
— all  prosperous  working  people — were  immediately 
reduced  to  idleness  and  poverty  by  it ;  the  Catholics, 
of  course,  sharing  in  the  misery  so  far  as  they  were 
employed;  and  20,000  Presbyterians  and  other  !N'on- 
conf ormists  left  Ireland  for  'New  England.  Then  began 
the  emigration,  from  want  of  employment,  that  con- 
tinues to  this  day.  But  the  English  parliament  pro- 
fessed to  encourage  the  Irish  linen  trade ;  for  this  could 
do  no  harm  to  English  traders,  as  flax-grovtdng  and 
linen  manufactui-e  had  not  taken  much  hold  in  England. 

As  almost  always  happens  when  plenty  of  a  com- 
modity can  be  produced,  on  which  there  are  prohibitive 
duties — that  is,  duties  so  heavy  that  it  is  impossible  to 
pay  them  and  afterwards  sell  the  goods  with  reasonable 
profit — smuggling  now  increased  enormously.  Wool 
became  so  plentiful  at  home  that  it  fetched  only  about 
five-pence  a  lb. ;  while  three  or  four  shillings  could 
easily  be  got  for  it  in  France.  This  drove  people  to 
smuggle — to  send  out  cargoes  of  woollen  goods  secretly, 
so  as  to  avoid  paying  the  customs  duties ;  and  the 
smugglers  imported,  in  return,  contraband  goods — that 
is,  those  that  ought  to  pay  duty,  but  did  not.  Every  re- 
turning vessel  brought  back  quantities  of  brandy,  wine, 


898  A  child's  history  of  Ireland,     [chap.  lvi. 

silks,  and  so  forth,  and  landed  them  in  remote  places 
on  the  coast,  so  as  to  elude  the  customs  officers  and 
escape  the  duties.  All  these  articles  they  bought  cheaply 
in  France,  and  either  kept  them  for  tlieir  own  use,  or 
more  commonly  sold  them — cheaply,  indeed,  but  still 
far  beyond  cost  price ;  so  that  smuggling  was,  in  those 
days,  a  very  profitable  business.  None  cared  to  inter- 
fere, for  thousands  of  the  Irish  of  all  classes  profited  by 
it ;  and  high  and  low,  squires,  magistrates,  clergy,  and 
peasants,  Protestants  and  Catholics — almost  the  whole 
population  in  fact — were  in  active  combination  against 
the  law.  The  Government  were  powerless  to  stop  this 
trade ;  and  for  generations  it  flourished  all  round  the 
coasts :  one  of  the  evil  results  of  unjust  and  unwise 
legislation. 

It  would  be  tedious  to  describe  in  detail  the  various 
provisions  for  the  ruin  of  Irish  industries  enacted  by 
the  English  parliament.  Gradually  it  came  to  pass  that 
almost  all  branches  of  Irish  trade  and  manufactui^e  were 
destroyed — beer,  malt,  hats,  cotton,  silk,  sailcloth,  gun- 
powder, ironware,  &c.  And  a  little  farther  on,  it  will 
be  related  how  the  embargo  in  the  time  of  the  American 
war  not  only  ruined  the  farmers,  but  ruined  the  trade 
in  salted  beef  and  other  such  commodities. 

The  destruction  of  all  industiy  produced  the  natural 
results.  During  the  first  half  of  the  eighteenth  century 
Ireland  was  in  an  appalling  state  of  miseiy :  regularly 
recurring  famines  with  their  attendant  diseases  all  over 
the  country,  and  whole  districts  depopulated.  A  large 
proportion  of  the  little  capital  left  in  the  country  was 
sent  to  England  to  absentee  landlords  by  middlemen, 
who,  in  their  turn,  extracted  the  very  last  penny  fi'om 
the  wretched  cottiers ;  and  this  constant  drain  of 
money  greatly  aggravated  the  wretchedness   brought 


CHAP.  LVI.]      LAWS  TO  REPRESS  IRISH  TRADE.  399 

on  by  want  of  employment.  During  tlie  eighteenth 
century  the  peasantry  of  Ireland  were  the  most  miser- 
able in  Europe  ;  and  in  the  frequent  famines,  a  large 
proportion  of  the  inhabitants  were  quite  as  badly  off 
as  the  people  of  Deny  during  the  worst  part  of  the 
siege. 

But  the  evil  consequences  of  those  evil  laws  did  not 
end  with  the  eighteenth  century :  they  have  come  down 
to  the  present  day.  For  when,  subsequently,  the 
restrictions  were  removed  and  trade  was  partially 
relieved,  the  remedy  came  too  late.  Some  branches 
of  manufactui^e  and  trade  had  been  killed  downright, 
and  others  permanently  injured.  An  industiy  once  ex- 
tinguished is  not  easily  revived.  The  trade  in  wool,  a 
chief  staple  of  Ireland,  which  was  kept  down  for 
nearly  a  centuiy,  never  recovered  its  former  state  of 
prosperity.  The  consequence  of  all  this  is  that  Ireland 
has  at  this  day  comparatively  little  manufacture  and 
commerce ;  and  the  people  have  to  depend  for  subsis- 
tence chiefly  on  the  land.  And  this  again,  by  increas- 
ing the  competiti  a  for  land,  has  intensified  the  land 
troubles  inherited  from  the  older  times  of  the  plan- 
tations. 


fs:..iniiinnr 


=^^^^^^;- 


'-'^mi-\- 


f^ 


Sculpture  on  a  Capital :   Priest's  House,  Glendaloui^h  :   Beranger,  1779. 
From  Pctrie's  "Round  Towers." 


CHAPTER  LYII. 


THE    BEGINNING    OF   THE    PARLIAMENTARY    STRUGGLE. 

I  William  and  Mary  (to  1702). 
Anne  (i 702-1714). 
George  1.(1714-1727). 
George  II. (1727). 

EADERS  of  Irisli  History  should  carefully  bear 
in  mind  that  the  proceedings  of  the  Irish 
Parliament,  and  the  political  history  of  the 
country  duiing  the  eighteenth  century,  have 
reference  almost  solely  to  the  Protestant 
portion  of  the  community ;  and  that  the 
struggles  of  the  Irish  legislatui-e  for  independence,  to 
be  related  in  this  and  the  following  chapters,  were  the 
^struggles  of  Protestants  alone.  The  Catholics  had  no 
power  to  take  part  in  these  contests :  for  no  Catholic 
could  be  a  member  of  parliament,  or  even  vote  at  an 
election  for  one.  They  kept  almost  wholly  silent — 
at  least  during  the  fii'st  half  of  the  century — ^believing 
that  the  less  attention  they  drew  on  themselves  the 
better  :  for  they  cowered  under  the  law,  and  knew  not 
the  moment  they  might  be  visited  with  further  crush- 
ing enactments.  The  Protestants  of  the  Irish  Patriotic 
party  strove  for  the  rights  of  the  Protestant  people 
only.  The  Catholics  never  entered  into  their  thoughts 
except  for  the  purpose  of  keeping  them  down.     Moly- 


CHAP.  LVII.]     THE  PARLIAMENTAEY  STRUGGLE.  401 

neux,  Swift,  Lucas,  Flood,  and  many  other  patriots 
that  will  come  before  us  as  we  go  along,  were  all 
against  granting  any  political  liberty  to  Catholics. 
Burke  and  Grattan  were  almost  the  only  two  great 
Protestants  of  the  first  three-quarters  of  the  eighteenth 
century  who  took  a  broader  view,  and  advocated  the 
right  of  the  Irish  Catholics  to  be  placed  on  terms  of 
equality  with  the  Protestant  people. 

The  position  of  the  Irish  parliament  dui'ing  the 
greater  part  of  the  centuiy  was  this.  The  high  govern- 
ment officials,  from  the  lord  lieutenant  down,  were 
nearly  all  Englishmen,  with  commonly  a  few  Irishmen 
of  English  sympathies.  These  formed  what  may  be 
called  the  Court  Party.  They  were  in  favour  of 
English  ascendancy,  being  always  ready  to  carry  out 
the  wishes  of  the  king  and  the  English  council ;  and 
as,  by  the  various  means  at  their  disposal  described 
farther  on — bribery,  pensions,  situations,  titles,  &c. — 
they  were  nearly  always  able  to  have  a  majority  of 
members  in  their  favoui',  the  English  interest  was 
all-powerful  in  the  Irish  parliament.  But  among  a 
thoughtful  section  of  Irish  Protestants,  who  had  the 
interests  of  theii'  own  country,  or  at  least  of  the  Pro- 
testant part  of  it,  at  heart,  the  unjust  laws  that 
destroyed  the  industries  of  Ireland  and  ruined  and  im- 
poverished its  people  to  enrich  English  merchants  and 
tradesmen,  and  the  appointment  of  Englishmen  to  all 
the  important  posts  to  the  exclusion  of  Irishmen,  pro- 
voked feelings  of  resentment  and  distrust  towards  the 
English  government  akin  to  those  produced  in  times 
of  old  by  a  similar  course  of  ill-treatment  (page  162), 
and  kindled  in  them  a  sentiment  of  patriotism  which 
became  more  intensified  as  time  went  on.  They  were 
always  represented  in  parliament  by  a  small  opposition, 

2d 


402  A  child's  history  OP^  IRELAND.      [CHAP.  LVII. 

who  came  to  be  called  Patriots,  or  the  Patriotic  or 
Popular  Party.  Some  of  these  were  indeed  selfish  and 
corrupt,  and  made  themselves  troublesome  merely  to 
induce  the  government  to  buy  them  off  by  giving  them 
good  situations  or  pensions.  But  there  was  always 
a  solid  body  of  men  of  a  different  stamp,  like  Molyneux 
and  Grattan,  who,  so  far  as  lay  in  their  power,  resisted 
all  dictation  and  all  encroachment  on  the  privileges  of 
the  Irish  parliament,  or  on  the  rights  and  liberties  of 
the  country.  They  held  steadily  in  view  two  main 
objects  : — To  remove  the  ruinous  restrictions  on  trade 
and  commerce,  and  to  make  their  parliament  as  far  as 
possible  independent,  so  that  it  might  have  a  free  hand 
to  manage  the  affairs  of  Ireland.  It  was  the  unjust 
trade-laws,  and  the  constant  preferment  of  Englishmen 
over  the  heads  of  Irishmen  that  gave  origin  to  the  Irish 
Patriotic  Party,  and  brought  to  the  fi^ont  their  great 
leaders  both  in  and  out  of  parliament,  from  Molyneux  to 
Swift  and  fi'om  Swift  to  Grattan.  Gradually,  year  by 
year,  they  gained  strength,  and  ultimately,  as  we  shall 
see,  canied  their  main  points  against  the  government : 
but  it  was  a  long  and  bitter  struggle.  Sometimes  it 
happened  in  cases  of  unusual  provocation,  that,  not 
only  the  small  party  of  Patriots,  but  the  great  majority 
of  the  Irish  members  were  roused  to  successful  resis- 
tance in  spite  of  the  influence  of  the  Cornet  Party :  of 
which  we  shall  see  instances  as  we  go  along.  The 
struggle  between  these  two  parties  forms  the  main 
feature  in  the  political  histoiy  of  Ireland  during  the 
gi^eater  part  of  the  eighteenth  centuiy. 

The  resistance  began  early.  In  1698,  some  years 
before  the  time  we  are  now  treating  of,  William  Moly- 
neux, member  of  parliament  for  the  University  of 
Dublin,  a  man  of  great  scientific  eminence,  published 


CHAP.  LVII.]      THE  PARLIAiUKNTARY  STRUGGLE.  403 

his  famous  book,  **  The  Case  of  Ireland's  being  bound 
by  Acts  of  parliament  in  England  stated,"  in  which  he 
denounced  the  commercial  injustice  done  to  Ireland, 
traced  the  growth  of  the  Irish  parliament,  and  main- 
tained that  it  was  independent  of  that  of  England,  and 
had  a  right  to  make  its  own  laws.  This  Essay  was 
received  in  England  with  great  indignation ;  and  the 
parliament  there,  pronouncing  it  dangerous,  ordered  it 
to  be  bui'ned  publicly  by  the  hangman.  But  the 
powerful  statement  of  Molyneux,  though  it  taught 
his  countrymen  a  useful  lesson,  did  not  close  up  the 
road  to  rum  ;  for  in  the  very  year  after  its  publication 
came  the  most  crushing  of  all  the  restrictions,  the  act 
abeady  described  (p.  396)  destroying  the  Irish  wool 
industry. 

A  few  years  later  on,  the  bitter  feelings  excited 
in  Ireland  by  these  and  other  such  proceedings  were 
greatly  intensified  by  a  notable  event  brought  about  by 
a  lawsuit  commonly  known  as  the  "  Annesley  case." 
A  dispute  about  some  property  arose,  in  1719,  between 
two  Irish  persons,  Hester  Sherlock  and  Maurice 
Annesley,  which  the  Dublin  court  of  exchequer  de- 
cided in  favour  of  Annesley ;  but  the  Irish  house  of 
lords,  on  being  appealed  to,  reversed  this  and  gave 
judgment  in  favour  of  Hester  Sherlock.  Annesley 
appealed  to  the  English  house  of  lords,  who  affirmed 
the  exchequer  decision,  reversing  that  of  the  Irish 
lords  ;  and  they  fined  BiuTowes,  the  sheriff  of  Kildare, 
because  he  refused  to  put  Annesley  in  possession  in 
obedience  to  their  decree.  But  the  Irish  peers  remitted 
the  fine,  declaring  the  appeal  to  the  English  lords 
illegal,  commended  the  sheriff  for  his  action,  and  went 
farther  by  taking  into  custody  the  thi'ee  barons  of  the 
court  of  exchequer  who  had  given  judgment  for 
2d2 


n 


404  A  child's  history  of  Ireland,    [chap.  lvii. 

Aiiiieslcy.     Tlie  Eiiglisli  parliament  at  last  ended  the 
dispute    by    passing    a   momentous     act 
A.D.  iffi9    (known  as  '*  The  Sixth  of  George  I.") 
deciding  that  the  English  parliament  had 
the  right  to  make  laws  for  Ireland  ;  and  depriving  the 
Irish  house  of  lords  of  the  right  to  hear  appeals.     It 
will  be  remembered  that  Poynings'  Act  did  not  give 
the  English  parliament  the  power  of  legislating  for 
Ireland  (p.  188).     The  Sixth  of  George  I.  now  asserted 
this  right  for  the  first  time,  and  thus  took  away  what- 
ever little  independence  Poynings'  Law  had  left,  and 
reduced  the  Irish  parliament  to  a  mere  shadow. 

The  task  of  actively  opposing  the  Court  Party,  by 
speech  and  pen,  was  not  left  solely  in  the  hands  of 
members  of  parliament :  there  were  men  equally  able 
clnd  active  outside,  of  whom  the  most  brilliant  by  far 
was  Jonathan  Swift,  the  celebrated  dean  of  St.  Patrick's 
in  Dublin.  He  was  indignant  at  the  destruction  of 
Irish  industries  for  the  benefit  of  English  traders;  and, 
in  1720,  he  wi'ote  an  Essay  encoui'aging  the  Irish 
people  to  retaliate  by  rejecting  all  clothing  and  fur- 
nitui'e  made  in  England,  and  using  only  their  own 
home  manufacture  :  an  essay  that  so  enraged  the 
authorities  of  both  countries  that,  although  there  was 
nothing  illegal  in  the  proposal,  the  Government  prose- 
cuted the  printer,  but  failed  to  have  him  punished, 
notwithstanding  the  brow-beating  efforts  of  the  corrupt 
judge  who  tried  the  case. 

It  was  however  Swift's  action  m  the  case  of  "Wood's 
Halfpence"  that  brought  him  into  the  greatest  noto- 
riety. At  this  time  much  inconvenience  was  felt  in 
Ireland  fi'om  the  want  of  small  copper  coins :  and,  in 
1723,  the  English  treasuiy,  without  consulting  the 
Irish  authorities,  granted  a  patent  for  coining  £108,000 


CHAP.  LVII.]     THE  PARLIA:MENTAKY  STRUGGLE. 


405 


in  base-metal  halfpence  and  farthings,  to  the  king's 
favoimte  the  Duchess  of  Kendal,  who  sold  the  patent  to 
an  English  iron  merchant  named  Wood,  a  transaction 
which  would  bring  an  immense  profit  to  the  duchess 
and  to  Wood.  And  what  made  the  matter  all  the 
worse  was  that  not  more  than  about  £15,000  in  small 


/ 


Jonathan  S^vift.     From  portrait  in  National  Gallery,  Dublin. 

coin  was  needed.  This  gross  job  created  intense  alarm 
and  indignation  in  Ireland.  The  Patriots  vehemently 
attacked  and  exposed  it ;  the  two  Irish  houses  addressed 
the  king,  representing  that  this  base  coinage  would 
diminish  reyenue  and  destroy  commerce;  and  midti- 
tudes  of  pamphlets,   songs,   squibs,  and  coarse  carica- 


406  A  child's  history  of  Ireland,    [chap.  lvii. 

tures  were  written  and  circulated  in  Dublin  attacking 
*'  Wood's  Halfpence."  Eut  the  scheme  was  pressed  by 
powerful  friends  at  court,  and  would  have  succeeded 
only  for  Swift.  He  wi'ote  and  printed  five  letters,  one 
after  another,  with  the  signatui'e  ^'W.  B.  Drapier," 
pointing  out  in  simple,  homely,  vigorous  language  that 
the  most  ignorant  could  understand,  the  evils  which, 
according  to  him,  would  result  from  the  coinage.  These 
coins  were  so  bad,  as  he  told  his  readers,  that  twenty- 
f  oui'  of  them  were  worth  no  more  than  one  good  penny ; 
that  if  a  lady  went  shopping  she  should  have  to  bring 
with  her  a  cart  loaded  with  the  new  money ;  that  a 
farmer  would  have  to  employ  three  horses  to  bring  his 
rent  to  his  landlord ;  that  a  poor  man  would  have  to  give 
thii'ty-six  of  the  halfpence  for  a  quart  of  ale ;  and  that 
it  would  ruin  all  classes,  even  the  very  beggars  ;  for, 
when  a  man  gives  a  beggar  one  of  these  halfpence,  it 
"  will  do  him  no  more  service  than  if  I  should  give  him 
three  pins  out  of  my  sleeve."  There  had  been  great 
excitement  ;  but  it  was  increased  tenfold  by  these 
letters.  The  Court  Officials  were  greatly  provoked ;  and 
the  lord  lieutenant  offered  a  reward  of  £300  for  the 
discovery  of  the  author ;  but,  though  everyone  knew 
who  the  author  was,  no  one  came  forward  to  inform  on 
him.  At  length  matters  looked  so  threatening  that  the 
patent  had  to  be  withdi'awn,  a  \dctory  that  greatly 
strengthened  the  hands  of  the  Patriots ;  and  the  Dean 
became  amazingly  popular  all  through  Ireland  among 
both  Protestants  and  Catholics. 

In  the  middle  of  the  centuiy  the  Popular  Party  had 
for  leaders,  Councillor  Anthony  Malone,  a  member  of 
the  house  of  commons,  a  good  statesman  and  a  good 
orator ;  and  Charles  Lucas,  a  Dublin  apothecary,  not 
then  in  parliament,  though  he  was  subsequently  elected: 


CHAP.  LVII.]     THE  PARLIAMENTAKY  STRUGGLE.  407 

wMle  their  leader  in  the  lords  was  the  Earl  of  Kildare, 
afterwards  Duke  of  Leinster.  Under  these  three  able 
men  they  boldly  attacked  the  coiTupt  practices  of  the 
govemment,  and  triumphed  on  more  than  one  occasion. 

The  feeling  against  Catholics  had  lately  been  gi'ow- 
ing  somewhat  less  bitter ;  and  they  began  to  bestir 
themselves,  hoping  to  obtain  some  little  relief.  The 
first  timid  movements  were  made  by  thi'ee  Catholic 
gentlemen: — Dr.  Curry,  a  physician  of  Dublin,  his- 
torian of  the  civil  wars  in  Ireland;  Charles  0' Conor 
of  Eellanagar  in  lioscommon,  a  distinguished  scholar 


Charles  O'Conor,  of  Bellanagar.    From  Plate  engraved  from  original  portrait :  portrait 
and  plate  still  in  possession  of  his  descendant,  the  Right  Hon.  The  O'Conor  Don. 

and  antiquarian,  author  of  several  books  on  Irish  his- 
torical literatui^e ;  and  Mr.  AVyse  of  Waterford.  They 
endeavoiu'ed,  in  the  first  instance,  to  stir  up  the  Catholic 
clergy  and  aristocracy  to  agitate  for  their  rights ;  but 
here  theii'  efforts  quite  failed ;  for  these  classes,  having 
abeady  suffered  so  much,  were  fearful  that  any  attempt 
to  obtain  justice  might  only  make  matters  worse.     At 


408 


A  child's  history  of  IRELAND.     [ciIAP.  LVIII. 


this  time,  however,  a  good  many  Catholics,  driven 
from  the  professions,  had,  as  already  stated,  taken  to 
business  and  commerce  in  Dublin  and  other  cities 
(p.   393)  :    and   among   these    classes   Curry   and   his 

colleagues  were  more  successful;  so  that 
A.]).  1J5J    they  founded  the  ''  Catholic  Committee  " 

to  watch  over  the  interests  of  Catholics. 
This  body  was  to  hold  its  meetings  in  Dublin.  The 
association  spread  some  enlightenment,  and  infused 
some  faint  life  and  hope  among  the  Catholics ;  and  it 
may  be  regarded  as  the  feeble  beginning  of  the  move- 
ment for  Catholic  relief,  which  subsequently  became 
so  formidable  and  successful  under  O'Connell. 


CHAPTER  LYIII. 


DISCON^TENT      AND      DANGER. 
AD.  1761-1772.— George  III. 

/^\%?iDDLEMEN",  a  class  of  porsous  well  known  in 
Ireland,  had  a  gi^eat  deal  to  do  with  the 
wi-etched  condition  of  the  Irish  peasantry 
diuing  the  eighteenth  centmy.  These 
were  men  who  took  tracts  of  land  from  the  absentee 
landlords  at  a  moderate  rent,  and  sublet  it  to  cottiers 
and  small  farmers  at  rackrents  that  left  hardly  enough 
to  support  life.  Sometimes  there  were  two  middlemen, 
the  one  who  let  the  land  to  the  farmers  being  himself 
the  tenant  of  another  over  his  head,  who,  in  his  tui^n, 
rented  it  from  the  great  absentee ;  and  not  unf requently 
there  were  tkree,  each  making  a  profit  from  the  next 
below.       But  whether  one,  two,  or  three,  the  tillers  of 


CHAP.  LVIII.]  DISCONTENT  AND  DANGER.  409 

the  soil  were  always  kept  in  a  state  of  the  greatest 
poverty,  being  quite  at  the  mercy  of  their  immediate 
landlord.  Those  who  had  leases  were  indeed  a  little 
better  off  ;  but  very  few  had ;  nearly  all  were  tenants 
at  will ;  and  the  landlord  made  them  pay  whatever  he 
pleased.  This  state  of  things,  which  affected  both 
Protestants  and  Catholics,  existed  in  every  part  of 
Ireland  during  the  whole  of  this  century,  and  continued 
far  into  the  next. 

Other  causes  contributed  to  the  prevailing  depression. 
Towards  the  middle  of  the  century,  there  was  a  very 
general  movement  among  landlords,  both  great  and 
small,  to  turn  the  land  to  pasture ;  for  they  found  it 
more  profitable  to  graze  and  sell  cattle  than  to  let  the 
land  for  tillage ;  and  thousands  of  poor  cottiers  were 
turned  off  in  order  that  the  land  might  be  converted 
into  great  grazing  farms.  jS'ear  many  of  the  villages  in 
various  parts  of  Ireland  were  "Commons,"  stretches  of 
grassy  upland  or  bog  which  were  free  to  the  people  to 
use  for  gi^azing  or  for  cutting  tui'f ,  and  formed  one  of 
their  chief  ways  of  living.  These  had  belonged  to  them 
time  out  of  mind,  being  in  fact  the  remains  of  the 
Commons  Land  of  ancient  days  (p.  47)  ;  but  about 
this  period  the  landlords  had  begun  to  enclose  them  as 
private  property,  chiefly  for  grazing.  The  people  had 
other  reasons  for  discontent  too.  They  complained  that 
the  landlords  charged  excessive  rents  for  bogs  ;  and  the 
gentry  eveiywhere  managed  to  evade  the  tithes  payable 
to  the  ministers  of  the  Established  Chui'ch,  which  in 
consequence  fell  chiefly  on  the  very  poorest  of  the 
people.  In  addition  to  all  these  was  the  general  want 
of  employment  due  to  the  loss  of  trade  of  eveiy  kind, 
already  refeiTed  to,  which  drove  the  peasantry  to  de- 
pend on  land  as  almost  their  sole  means  of  subsistence. 


410  A  child's  history  of  IRELAND.      [cHAP.  LVIII. 

At  last  the  people,  with  some  wild  notions  of  redi'ess- 
ing^  tlieir  gi'ievances,  began  to  combine  in  various  secret 
outh-bound  societies,  by  which  the  country  was  for 
many  years  greatly  disturbed.  Of  these  the  most  note- 
worthy were  the  Whiteboys — so  called  because  they 
wore  white  shirts  over  their  coats  when  out  on  their 
nightly  excursions — who  were  confined  chiefly  to  the 
counties  of  Waterford,  Cork,  Limerick,  and  Tipperary. 
The  movement  was  not  sectarian ;  and  it  was  not  di- 
rected against  the  government,  but  against  the  oppres- 
sion of  individuals.  The  "Whiteboys  rose  up  in  the  fii'st 
instance  (in  1761)  against  the  enclosure  of  commons, 
and  persons  of  different  religions  joined  them ;  for  all 
suffered  equally  from  the  encroachments  of  the  land- 
lords :  and  Catholics  as  well  as  Protestants  fell  under 
their  vengeance.  They  traversed  the  country  at  night, 
levelling  all  the  new  fences  that  enclosed  the  commons, 
and  digging  up  pastui^e  land  to  force  tillage  :  whence 
they  at  fii^st  got  the  name  of  Levellers.  But  they  soon 
went  beyond  their  original  designs,  setting  themselves 
up  as  redressers  of  all  sorts  of  grievances ;  and  they 
committed  terrible  outrages  on  those  who  became 
obnoxious  to  them.  Sometimes  they  took  people  out 
of  their  beds  in  winter,  and  immersed  them  naked  up 
to  the  chin  in  a  pit  of  water  full  of  briars.  At  length 
they  became  so  troublesome  that  a  large  force  was 
sent,  m  1762,  to  suppress  them,  under  the  marquis  of 
Drogheda,  who  fixed  his  headquarters  at  Clogheen  in 
Tipperary.  The  parish  priest,  Father  [N'icholas  Sheehy, 
was  accused  of  em-olling  Whiteboys,  and  a  reward  was 
offered  for  his  arrest ;  but  he,  earnestly  denying  the 
charge,  surrendered,  and  was  tried  in  Dublin  and 
acquitted.  He  was  immediately  re-arrested  on  a  charge 
of  murdering  one  of  his  accusers,  and  put  on  his  trial 


CHAP.  LVIII.]         DISCONTENT  AND  DANGER.  411 

this  time  in  Clonmel ;  and  on  the  evidence  of  the  self- 
same witnesses,  who  had  been  disbelieved  in  Dublin,  as 
persons  well  known  to  be  of  bad  character,  he  was 
convicted  and  hanged.  Father  Sheehy  asserted  his 
innocence  to  the  last ;  the  people  considered  him  a 
martyr,  and  his  execution  caused  fearful  excitement. 
In  Ulster  there  were  similar  secret  associations 
among  the  Protestant  peasantry,  brought  about  by 
causes  of  much  the  same  kind  as  those  of  the  south. 
One  main  ground  of  complaint  was  that  every  man 
was  forced  to  give  six  days'  work  in  the  year,  and  six 
days'  work  of  a  horse,  in  the  making  or  repairing  of 
roads,  which  the  gentry  made  full  use  of,  while  they 
themselves  contributed  nothing.  Those  who  banded 
together  against  this  were  called  "  Hearts  of  Oak." 
Another  association,  the  *'  Hearts  of  Steel,"  rose  in 
1769,  against  unjust  and  exorbitant  rents;  for  the 
people  of  Ulster  were  as  much  oppressed  as  those  of 
Munster  by  middlemen,  who  were  here  commonly 
known  as  "  Forestallers."  These  "Oakboys"  and 
"  Steelboys,"  not  content  with  their  original  objects, 
set  themselves  to  redi'ess  various  abuses  about  land,  like 
their  brethren  in  the  south ;  and  they  also  opposed  the 
payment  of  tithes,  which  had  been  lately  very  much 
increased  in  Ulster.  The  oppression  of  the  northern 
peasantry  by  the  gentry  caused  a  great  emigration  of 
the  best  of  the  people  to  Xew  England,  or  rather 
increased  the  emigration  begun  more  than  half  a  cen- 
tuiy  before;  and  when,  a  little  later,  the  war  broke 
out  between  England  and  the  United  States,  the  most 
determined  and  dangerous  of  the  troops  who  fought 
against  the  English  were  the  sturdy  expatriated  Presby- 
terians of  Ulster,  and  the  descendants  of  those  who  had 
emigrated  on  account  of  religious  persecution  and  the 


412  A  child's  history  of  Ireland,    [chap,  lviii. 

destruction  of  the  wool  trade  (pp.  314,  397).  There 
were  many  other  secret  societies  at  this  time  and  for 
long  afterwards,  culminating  later  on  in  the  most  cele- 
brated of  all,  the  United  Irishmen. 

Meantime,  througli  all  this  trouble,  the  contest  of  the 
two  parties  in  parliament  went  on  without  the  least 
cessation.  The  Court  Party  were  strong,  and  continued 
to  purchase  members  to  their  side  by  various  corrupt 
means ;  but  the  Patriots  were  sleepless  and  vigilant, 
and  never  gave  the  government  a  day's  rest.  Pensions 
constituted  one  of  the  principal  forms  of  bribery. 
Large  pensions  were  given  to  numbers  of  persons  who 
had  done  nothing  to  earn  them ;  and  some  were  be- 
stowed on  favoui'ites  by  the  English  privy  council  and 
charged  to  Ireland  without  any  reference  to  the  Irish 
government ;  so  that  the  Pension  List  had  grown  to 
enormous  proportions.  This  corrupt  and  ruinous  pension 
list  was  vehemently  attacked  by  the  Patriots  under  the 
lead  of  a  great  man,   Henry  Plood,^'  who  was  aided 


*  At  this  time  three  great  Irishmen,  who  for  years  played  an 
important  part  in  Irish  affairs,  began  their  career : — Henry  Flood, 
born  near  Kilkenny,  1732,  died  1791  ;  Henry  Grattan,  bom  in 
Dublin,  1746,  the  son  of  the  recorder,  died  1820;  Edmund 
Burke,  born  in  Dublin  in  1730,  died  1797. 

Eurke,  who  figured  in  the  English  parliament,  was  one  of  the 
greatest  political  philosophers  that  ever  lived.  He  began  his 
public  life  in  1765,  as  private  secretary  to  Lord  Rockingham,  the 
English  prime  minister,  and  in  the  following  year  he  was  elected 
member  for  Wendover.  In  1774  he  became  member  for  Bristol. 
He  opposed  the  American  war  ;  and  on  this  question,  as  well  as 
on  those  of  the  French  revolution,  and  the  Stamp  Act,  he  wrote 
powerful  pamphlets,  and  made  a  series  of  splendid -speeches.  He 
lifted  himself  above  the  prejudices  of  the  times,  and  all  his  Hfe 
advocated  the  emancipation  of  the  Catholics. 

Grattan  was,  perhaps,  Ireland's  most  brilliant  orator  and  one  of 


CHAP.   LVIII.]  DISCONTENT   AND   DANGEK. 


413 


by  the  gi^omng  eloquence  of  a  still  more  celebrated 
patriot,   Heniy  Grattan,  tben  a  very  young  man,  and 


Henry  Flood.     From  Barrin^tons  "Historic  Memoirs,"  II.,  io6. 

not  yet  in  parliament.     But,  although  they  fully  ex- 


her  purest  and  greatest  patriots.  He  began  his  parliamentary  life 
in  1775,  at  twenty-nine  years  of  age,  as  member  for  Cbarlemont ; 
and  his  very  first  speech  ■vras  in  opposition  to  the  pensions  of  two 
In  oratorical  power,  Flood  was  second  only  to  Graltan. 


414  A  child's  history  of  IRELAND.     [CHAP.  LVIII. 

posed  the  corruption  of  the  pension  list,  the  goyemment 
proved  too  strong  for  them,  and  the  evil,  so  far  from 
ahating,  continued  to  increase  year  by  year. 

Another  question  arose  about  this  time  which  excited 
great  interest — that  of  the  duration  of  parliament.  In 
England  the  utmost  limit  was  seven  years ;  at  the  end 
of  which  the  parliament,  if  it  lasted  so  long,  had  to  be 
dissolved,  and  there  was  a  general  election.  This  was 
a  good  plan ;  for  if  a  member  acted  wrong  the  electors 
could  put  another  in  his  place  without  much  delay. 
But,  in  Ireland,  parliament  lasted  as  long  as  the  king 
wished ;  and  the  preceding  one  had  continued  during 
the  entire  reign  of  George  II. :  thirty-three  years. 

This  state  of  things  led  to  great  abuses  ;  and  several 

times  the  Patriots  brought  in  a  Septennial  or  seven  years 

bill,  and  the  majority  of  the  Irish  parliament  agi'eed  to 

send  over  the  heads  of  the  bill  for  approval  by  the 

English    council,  in   accordance  with  Poynings'   Law 

(p.  187).    But,  in  each  case,  no  notice  was  taken  of  the 

communication.      !N'ow,    once   more,    the 

A.D.  1^6*"    patriots,  under  the  leadership  of  Charles 

Lucas,  did  the  same  thing ;  and  this  time 

the  document  was  retui-ned,  approved,  from  England, 

but  with  the   seven   years   changed  to  eight,    which 

was  accepted  by  the  Irish  parliament.     The  passing  of 

this  Octennial  bill  was  the  occasion  of  much  popular 

rejoicing  in  Ireland. 

After  this  bill  had  become  law  there  was  a  dissolu- 
tion, and  a  new  parliament  was  elected.  During  the 
election.  Lord  Townshend — the  same  lord  lieutenant 
under  whom  the  Octennial  bill  had  been  passed — made 
use  of  every  possible  form  of  bribery,  and  with  much 
success,  to  have  members  returned  favourable  to  his 
side.     But,  with  all  his  corrupt  practices,  he  failed  to 


CHAP.  LVIII.]  DISCONTENT  AND  DANGER.  415 

bring  this  new  house  of  commons  with  him  on  one 
important  point.  Both  in  England  and  in  Ireland  the 
commons  have  always  jealously  preserved  to  themselves 
the  power  to  originate  money  bills — that  is,  the  power  to 
raise  money  by  taxation  and  to  apply  it  to  the  expenses 
of  the  country  ;  justly  holding  that  the  representatives 
of  the  people  have  alone  the  right  to  tax  the  people. 

On  the  present  occasion  the  English  privy 
A.D.  1769    council  sent  over  a  money  bill  for  Ireland, 

with  dii'ections  to  have  it  passed  by  the 
Irish  parliament;  but  it  was  rejected  *' because  it  did 
not  originate  in  the  house  of  commons  " — the  very 
phrase  used  in  Sydney's  parliament  in  1692  (p.  381) — 
which  greatly  incensed  Lord  Townshend.  Keeping  his 
mind  to  himself,  however,  he  fii'st  got  parliament  to 
pass  the  usual  money  supplies  to  the  government ;  and 
when  these  were  safe,  he  had  the  commons  summoned 
to  the  bar  of  the  house  of  lords,  where  he  lectured  them 
severely  for  their  conduct  about  the  money  bill,  and 
prorogued  parliament  for  f oui'teen  months.  He  entered 
a  protest  in  the  books  of  the  house  of  lords  against  the 
rejection  of  the  bill ;  but  the  commons,  who  were  more 
film  than  the  lords,  forbade  their  clerk  to  enter  the 
same  protest  on  their  books.  These  proceedings  of 
Townshend,  which  were  felt  to  be  a  mixture  of  trick- 
ery and  tp'anny,  caused  great  indignation,  and  gave 
renewed  strength  to  the  popular  party. 

All  this  time  the  Catholics  were  almost  wholly  silent, 
taking  no  part  in  political  questions  :  their  only  desire 
being  to  avoid  the  sharp  fangs  of  the  law.  Yet  there 
were  signs  of  some  faint  desire  to  indulge  them  a  little ; 
but  how  little  may  be  judged  from  one  small  conces- 
sion, and  the  difficulty  of  having  even  that  granted. 
Lord  Townshend  had  an  act  passed  (a.d.  1771),  which 


416  A  child's  history  of  ikeland.    [chap.  LVIll. 

had  been  previously  often  rejected,  enabling  a  Catholic 
to  take  on  long  lease,  and  reclaim  as  best  he  could,  fifty 
acres  of  bog  ;  and,  if  it  were  too  deep  or  marshy  for 
building  on,  he  was  permitted  to  have  half  an  acre  of 
solid  land  on  which  to  build  a  house.  But  these  pre- 
cautions were  inserted : — that  the  bog  should  be  at  least 
four  feet  deep,  and  that  it  should  not  be  nearer  than 
a  mile  to  any  market  town. 

Townshend  at  last  growing  tired  of  the  ceaseless  op- 
position of  the  Patriots,  and  of  the  everlasting  deluge 
of  hostile  literature  in  newspaj)ers,  pamphlets,  ballads, 
and  all  sorts  of  witty  squibs,  with  ugly  caricatui^es, 
resigned  in  1772.  During  his  term  of  office,  he  had 
done  more  to  corrupt  parliament  than  any  of  his  prede- 
cessors, by  dismissing  all  opposed  to  him,  and  by  giving 
pensions,  places,  and  titles  ;  all  to  secure  a  majority  for 
the  Court  or  English  Party.  Ey  this  open  and  perpetual 
corruption  he  managed  to  keep  up  a  majority  and  to 
have  most  of  his  measui'es  passed.  But,  on  the  other 
hand,  these  proceedings  had  the  elffiect  of  consolidating 
the  Patriotic  Party,  and  of  strengthening  their  deteimi- 
nation  to  break  down  the  purely  English  influence,  and 
to  have  Irish  affairs  managed  mainly  for  the  benefit  of 
Ireland,  and  not  solely  for  that  of  England,  as  had 
hitherto  been  the  case. 


Sculpture  on  a  Capital:   Priest's  House,  Glendalough :  Beranger,  1779. 
From  Petrie's  "  Round  Towers." 


CHAPTER     LIX. 

THE  YOLTJNTEEES. 
A.D.  1775-1779. -George  III. 

N  1775  began  the  war  between  England  and 
her  North  American  colonies,  which  in  more 
ways  than  one  had  much  influence  on  the 
affairs  of  Ireland,  mostly  favourable,  but 
sometimes  the  reverse. 

Notwithstanding  all  the  disastrous  restric- 
tions,   some     channels    for    commerce    still 
remained  open  to  Ireland  ;   and  a  brisk  trade 
was  carried  on  by  the  export  of  provisions 
of  different  kinds,   especially  salted  meat,  to  various 
countries.      Eut  even  this   industry  did  not  escape ; 
for  in  the  very  year  after  the  breaking  out  of  the  war, 
an  embargo  was  laid  on  the  exportation  of  Irish  pro- 
visions, in  order  to  cheapen  food  for  the 
A.D.  17*6   British  army,  as  well  as  to  prevent  sup- 
plies reaching  America :  in  other  words, 
all  export  of  provisions  from  Ireland  was  prohibited. 
This  nearly  ruined  the  farmers  and  all  others  employed 
in  the  trade,  and  caused  instant  distress  everywhere. 
As  might  be  expected,  it  gave  rise  to  a  flourishing 
smuggling  trade,   which  was  extensively  carried   on, 
especially  round  the  intricate  coasts  of  the  south  and 
2e 


418 


A  child's  history  of  IRELAND.     [ciIAP.  LIX. 


west,  but  wliicli  went  no  way  in  alleviating  the  distress. 
The  embargo  was  ordered  by  the  English  authorities 
of  their  own  motion,  without  consulting  Ireland;  and 
this  fact,  with  the  sight  of  the  misery  that  had  been 
suddenly  brought  on  the  country,  caused  such  dangerous 


Edmund  Burke.     From  portrait  in  National  Gallery,  Dublin. 

discontent  in  the  Irish  parliament,  that  it  was  con- 
sidered desii'able  to  dissolve  it,  and  have  a  new  set  of 
more  pliable  members  elected.  The  general  election 
accordingly  came,  and  as  usual  there  was  extensive 
bribery  to  secure  a  government  majority. 


CilAi'.   LIX.J  THE  VOLUNTEKKS.  419 

In  Ireland  the  people  generally  sympathised  with 
America ;  for  they  felt  that  the  grievances  from 
which  they  had  so  long  snffered  were  much  the 
same  as  those  against  which  the  Americans  had 
risen  in  revolt;  and  they  began  to  entertain  a  hope 
that  one  outcome  of  the  war  might  be  free  trade 
for  their  own  country,  the  only  possible  remedy  for 
tlie   prevailing  misery. 

In  England  the  feeling  of  the  Irish  people  was  well 
understood ;  and  some  discussions  regarding  the  injustice 
done  to  Irish  trade  were  originated  in  the  English 
parliament  by  Edmund  Burke  and  other  friends  of 
Ireland ;  but  a  great  cry  was  instantly  raised  by  Eng- 
lish manufacturers  and  traders — an  outburst  of  mere 
selfishness — against  any  movement  that  threatened 
their  own  privileges  by  relieving  the  Irish  people ;  and 
the  end  of  the  matter  was  that  only  a  few  trifling  con- 
cessions were  made. 

The  war  in  America  had  gone  steadily  against  the 
English  ;    and   great    consternation    was 

A..D.  IS'T'?  caused  when  news  came  that  General 
liurgoyne  with  6000  men  had  surrendered 
to  the  American  general  Gage  at  Saratoga.  Eut  there 
was  greater  alarm  still  in  the  following  year,  when 
France  ackno^dedged  the  independence  of  the  United 
States.  This  was  immediately  followed  by  a  measure 
carried  in  the  English  parliament,  partially  relieving 
English  Catholics  from  their  disabilities :  and  with 
this  example  to  follow,  Mr.  Luke  Gardiner,  afterwards 
Lord  Mountjoy,  brought  in  a  bill  in  the  Irish  parlia- 
ment to  grant  considerable  relief  to  Irish  Catholics  and 
dissenters. 

At  this  time  indeed  much  of  the  Penal  Code  had 
2  E  2  ^' 


•IL'O  A  t'llll,I)'s  niSTOUY  OF  IltKI.ANO.       [ciIAP.     LIX. 

fallen  into  disii.so  ;    but  still  it   hung  over  the  heads 

of   the    Catholics,    and    might   be    brought    down    at 

any    time.       Yet  there  was  considerable 

A.D.  ittH  opposition  to  Gardiner's  proposal ;  but  the 
government  favoured  it,  and  the  bill  was 
carried  by  a  small  majority.  At  the  same  time  the 
Embargo  was  removed ;  but  during  the  two  or  three 
years  of  its  continuance  it  had  done  irreparable  damage 
by  causing  the  trade  in  salted  meat  to  be  transferred  to 
other  countries. 

The  act  of  relief  repealed  those  enactments  which 
prohibited  the  purchase  of  freehold  property  by 
Catholics,  and  which  gave  the  whole  xn'operty  to  the 
eldest  son,  and  the  right  of  separate  maintenance  at  the 
father's  expense,  to  any  other  child  who  became  a 
Protestant  (p.  387).  Catholics  could  now  take  land  on 
freehold  lease,  i.e.  on  lease  for  life.  Instead  of  tlie 
right  to  purchase  land  in  perpetuity,  they  got  what  was 
much  the  same  thing,  the  right  to  lease  for  999  years. 
The  Test  Act  was  also  abolished,  whicli  relieved 
Presbyterians  as  well  as  Catholics. 

All  this  time  Ireland  was  in  a  very  defenceless  state. 
For  in  the  very  year  of  the  opening  of  the  war,  4000 
Irish  troops  had  been  sent  away  at  the  request  of  the 
king,  for  service  in  America,  leaving  only  three  or  four 
thousand  in  the  country  :  and  though  the  English 
government  proposed  to  send  to  Ireland  4000  Protes- 
tant soldiers  from  Germany  in  place  of  those  who  had 
been  drafted  away,  the  Irish  House  of  Commons  de- 
clined to  admit  them,  saying  that  the  loyal  people  of 
Ireland  were  well  able  to  protect  themselves,  without 
the  aid  of  any  foreign  troops.  Now,  however,  things 
began   to   look   very  threatening,    and    peo[)le  feared 


CHAP.  LIX.]  THE  VOLUNTEERS.  421 

foreign  invasion.  For  not  only  was  the  war  going  on 
badly,  but  France  and  Spain  were  both  hostile  ;  and 
the  English  and  Irish  coasts  swarmed  with  American 
privateers  which  captured  British  merchant  vessels  and 
did  immense  damage. 

In  the  north  of  Ireland  the  people  had  good  reason 
for  apprehension.  Only  about  eighteen  years  before 
(in  1760),  Captain  Thui^ot — an  Irishman  whose  real 
name  was  O'Farrell — had  landed  at  Carrickfergus  with 
1000  men  from  three  French  vessels,  and  laid  the 
people  under  heavy  contribution  for  provisions.  He 
was  forced  however  to  re-embark,  and  in  an  action  a 
little  north  of  the  Isle  of  Man  the  three  vessels  were 
captured,  and  Thurot  was  killed.  All  this  was  vividly 
remembered  ;  and  now  the  celebrated  privateer  Paul 
Jones,  a  Scotchman  in  the  service  of  the  United  States, 
with  his  vessel  the  ''  Eanger,"  was  committing  great 

depredations  round  the  Irish  coast.     Out- 
A.D.  IT? 8    side  Carrickfergus  he  captured  an  English 

brig,  and  got  safely  off  with  her  to  Brest. 
The  Irish  saw  that  if  they  were  to  be  protected  at 
all  they  must  protect  themselves ;  and  this  conviction 
gave  origin  to  the  Volunteer  movement,  which  was 
begun  towards  the  end  of  1778.  The  first  Volunteer 
companies  were  raised  in  Belfast,  after  which  the  move- 
ment rapidly  spread ;  the  country  gentlemen  armed  and 

drilled  their  tenants ;  and  by  May  of  the 
A.D.  lyyo   following  year  nearly  4000  were  em-oiled 

in  the  counties  of  Down  and  Antrim. 
The  authorities  did  not  look  on  this  movement  with 
favour,  knowing  well  that  it  would  strengthen  the 
opposition ;  for  it  was  got  up  by  the  people  and  their 
leaders,  quite  independent  of  the  government ;  but  the 
feeling  of  the  country  was  too  strong  for  them.     The 


422 


A  child's  history  of  IRELAND.     [CHAP.  LIX. 


formation  of  Volunteer  companies  extended  to  other 
parts  of  Ireland  :  and  before  the  end  of  the  year, 
42,000  volunteers  were  enrolled. 

James  Caulfield,  earl  of  Charlemont,  a  man  univer- 


"* 

*«>                                            T^^l&^^^ 

'm/Kk' 

'^-^m 

^■-  ^^^ 

Lord  Charlemont.     From  the  portrait  in  the  National  Gallery,  Dublin. 

sally  respected,  of  refined  tastes  and  scholarly  attain- 
ments, and  moderate  in  his  views,  was  in  command  of 
the  northern  Volunteers ;  the  Duke  of  Leinster,  of  those 


CH^P.  LIX.j  THE  VOLUNTEERS.  423 

of  Leinster ;  and  other  gentlemen  of  influence  took  the 
lead  in  other  parts  of  Ireland. 

We  must  remember  two  things  in  regard  to  these 
Volunteers.  First,  the  rank  and  file  were  the  very- 
people  who  most  severely  felt  the  prevailing  distress 
caused  by  the  suppression  of  Irish  trade ;  and  who,  with- 
out being  in  any  sense  disloyal,  were  bitterly  hostile  to 
the  government,  while  their  sympathies  were  entirely 
with  the  Patriotic  Party.  Of  all  this  the  government 
were  well  aware :  but  they  dared  not  attempt  to  keep 
down  the  movement.  They  were  obliged  even  to  go  so 
far  as  to  supply  arms,  though  much  against  their  will : 
but  all  other  expenses,  including  uniforms,  were  borne 
by  the  people  themselves.  The  second  matter  to  be 
borne  in  mind  is  that  this  was  a  Protestant  movement, 
the  Catholics  not  yet  being  permitted  to  take  any 
positions  of  trust :  but  as  time  went  on  Catholics 
gradually  joined  the  ranks  in  considerable  numbers. 

Parliament  met  in  October  (1779).  The  Patriotic 
Party  had  now  the  Yolunteers  at  their  back,  and  just  as 
the  government  had  feared,  assumed  a  bolder  tone ;  and 
what  gave  their  demands  tenfold  strength  was  that 
they  were  known  to  be  thoroughly  loyal,  and  wanted 
nothing  more  than  the  redress  of  admitted  grievances. 
Flood  had  been  their  leader  down  to  1774  when  he 
took  office  under  the  government,  having  been  appointed 
vice-treasiu'er  with  a  salary  of  £3500  a  year.  This 
obliged  him  to  keep  silent  on  most  of  the  great  ques- 
tions in  dispute  between  the  two  parties ;  and  he  lost 
the  confidence  of  the  people,  which  was  now  transferred 
to  Grattan. 

Though  the  embargo  had  been  removed,  all  the  older 
restrictions  on  Irish  trade  (chap,  lvi.)  still  remained, 
under  which  it  was    impossible    for  the    country  to 


424  A  OTIlLT)'s  HISTORY  OF  IRELAND.      [ciIAP.  LlX. 

prosper,   or   even  to  emerge   from  poverty.      On  the 
assembling  of  parliament,   Grattan,  in  an  amendment 

to  the  Address,  brought  in  a  motion  de- 
A.r>.  lyyo   manding  free  trade,  which,  after  some  dis- 

cnssion,  was  earned  unanimously.  Even 
the  members  in  government  employment  voted  for  this  : 
it  was  proposed  by  Walter  Hussey  Burgh  the  Prime  Ser- 
jeant,  and  was  supported  by  Flood,  Hely  Hutchinson, 
Ponsonby,  and  Gardiner,  all  holding  offices.  Dublin 
was  in  a  state  of  great  excitement,  and  the  parliament 
liouse  was  surrounded  by  an  immense  crowd  shouting 
for  free  trade  ;  for  now,  at  last,  they  saw  some  prospect 
of  relief.  The  Address,  with  Grattan' s  amendment, 
was  borne  through  Dame-street  by  the  speaker  and  the 
commons  in  procession,  from  the  parliament  house  to 
the  castle,  to  be  presented  to  Lord  Buckinghamshire, 
the  lord  lieutenant.  The  streets  were  lined  both  sides 
with  Volunteers  under. the  Duke  of  Leinster :  as  the 
members  walked  along  they  were  received  with  accla- 
mation by  an  immense  multitude ;  and  the  Yolunteers 
presented  arms  in  honour'  of  the  speaker  and  members. 
It  was  in  the  debates  on  this  question  that  Hussey 
Burgh  made  his  reputation  as  an  orator.  In  one  of 
them  he  used  a  sentence  that  has  become  famous. 
Someone  had  remarked  that  Ireland  was  at  peace  : — 
^'  Talk  not  to  me  of  peace,"  said  he  :  '^  Ireland  is  not 
at  peace  ;  it  is  smothered  war.  England  has  sown  her 
laws  as  di'agons'  teeth  :  they  have  sprung  up  in  anned 
men."*     This  sentence  produced  unparalleled  excite- 


*  Alluding  to  a  classical  fable :  —  Cadmus,  the  founder  of 
Thebes,  having  killed  a  great  dragon,  sowed  its  teeth  in  the 
earth  by  the  advice  of  Minerva  :  and  the  crop  that  sprang  up 
from  them  was  a  party  of  mighty  men  all  fully  armed. 


CHAP.  LIX.] 


THE  VOLUNTEERS. 


425 


ment ;  and,  when  it  had  calmed  down  so  that  he  could 
he  heard,  he  announced  that  he  ^^;r\ 

resigned  his  office  under  the 
crown.  "The  gates  of  pro- 
motion are  shut,"  exclaimed 
Grattan:  "the  gates  of  glory 
are  opened !  " 

Eut  to  the  British  parliament 
alone,  which  had  laid  on  the 
restrictions,  helonged  the  task 
of  removing  them.  In  l^ovem- 
her  (1779)  the  English  prime 
minister.  Lord  JN'orth,  intro- 
duced three  propositions  to  re- 
lieve Irish  trade  :  the  first  per- 
mitted free  export  of  Irish  wool 
and  woollen  goods ;  the  second 
fi'ee  export  of  Irish  glass  manu- 
factures ;  the  third  allowed  fi'ee 
trade  with  the  British  colonies. 
The  first  two  were  passed  im- 
mediately; the  third  after  a 
little  time.  The  news  of  this 
was  received  with  great  joy  in      a  Member  of  the  DubUn  voiun 

T)nl)lm  teerCorps.     From  " The  Universal 

-^^^^^^^^'  Wagazine":  Dublin,  1792,  p.  545. 


Sculpture  on  Window  :  Cathedral  Church,  Glendalough  :  Beranger,  1779. 
From  Petrie's  "  Round  Towers." 


CHAPTER   LX. 


LEGISLATIVE      INDEPENDENCE. 


A.D.  1780-1783.-George  III. 

TEET  important  demand  made  so  far  by  the 
popular  party  in  Ireland  had  been  con- 
ceded ;  and  the  more  they  forced  the 
government  to  restore,  the  more  they 
were  determined  to  have.  They  had  ob- 
tained some  relief  for  trade  :  they  now 
resolved  that  their  parliament,  which 
was  bound  down  by  Poynings'  Law  and  by  the  Sixth  of 
George  I.,  should  also  be  free.  On  the  19th  of  April, 
in  a  magnificent  speech,  Grattan  moved  his  memor- 
able resolutions : — 

That  the   king,    with   the   lords    and   commons   of 
Ireland,     are   the   only   power   on   earth 
A.D.  lyso    competent  to    enact   laws   to    bind   Ire- 
land. 
That  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  are  inseparably  united 
under  one  sovereign. 

The  question,  however,  was  not  put  directly  to  a 

division :  for,  though  it  was  obvious  that  the  sense  of 

the  house  was  on  the  side  of  Grattan,  he  and  his  party 

might  have  been  outvoted  if  a  vote  had  been  taken. 

The  next  debate  arose  on  a  mutiny  bill — that  is,  a 


CHAP.  LX.J  LEGISLATIVE  INDEPENDENCE.  427 

bill  to  maintain  and  pay  the  army.  In  England  the 
Mutiny  Act  is  not  permanent :  it  is  passed  from  year 
to  year,  lest  the  army  might  be  used  by  the  king  or 
govemment  as  an  instrument  of  oppression,  as  it  was 
often  used   in   days  gone   by,    when   kings,   with   an 


Grattan.     From  the  portrait  in  the  National  Gallery,  Dublin. 

army  at  their  back,  did  what  they  pleased  in  defiance  of 
parliament  and  people.  The  Mutiny  Bill  for  Ireland 
was  passed  by  the  Irish  parliament  after  a  long  contest ; 
but,  having  been  transmitted  to  the  English  authorities, 


428  A  child's  history  of  Ireland,     [chap.  lx. 

it  was  returned  changed  to  a  perpetual  bill — the  very 
thing  they  took  good  care  to  avoid  in  England.  The 
Irish  gOYcrnment,  following  their  directions  as  usual, 
proposed  this  measure  in  the  parliament  in  1780  ;  but 
it  was  most  resolutely  opposed,  and  created  gi'eat 
irritation  and  excitement  all  over  the  country.  ]N"ever- 
theless  the  Court  Party  carried  it  in  spite  of  all  expos- 
tulation ;  and  earned  it  by  wholesale  bribery,  especially 
by  selling  peerages  and  peerage  promotions.  In  this, 
as  in  many  other  instances,  the  action  of  the  govern- 
ment, both  in  England  and  Ireland,  appears  to  have 
been  singularly  ill-judged  and  short-sighted,  in  exas- 
perating the  Irisb  people  at  the  very  time  of  wars  with 
America,  Erance,  Spain,  and  other  countries.  Their 
proceedings,  instead  of  suppressing  the  spii^it  now 
abrojid  through  the  country,  or  allaying  excitement, 
intensified  the  discontent  and  spread  the  agitation. 

^Meantime  the  enthusiasm  for  home  government  was 
spreading  and  intensifying ;  and  the  oj^position,  led  by 
Grattan,  gained  strength  and  confidence  by  the  great 
increase  of  the  Yolunteers,  who,  much  against  the  wish 
of  the  government,  continued  to  be  enrolled  in  the  foiu' 
pro^-inces,  till  at  last  they  numbered  100,000  men. 
The  country  was  now  all  ablaze  with  excitement, 
though  perfectly  peaceable ;  and  people  scarcely  thought 
or  talked  of  anything  but  the  question  of  a  free  parlia- 
ment. Dunng  the  early  months  of  1781  innumerable 
meetings  were  held  all  over  Ireland ;  and  what  was 
more  significant,  there  were  reviews  of  the  Yolunteers 
everywhere  in  the  foui'  provinces,  with  the  great  ques- 
tion always  in  their  thoughts  and  speech.  In  Belfast 
Lord  Charlemont  rode  through  the  crowded  streets  at 
the  head  of  his  splendid  corps,  and  issued  an  address,  in 
which  he  hailed  the  spirit  of  freedom  that  had  enabled 


CHAP.  LX.]  LEGISLATIVE  INDEPEKDENCE.  429 

them,  -without  help  from  outside,  to  provide  against 
foreign  invasion,  and  looked  forward  to  the  accomplish- 
ment of  legislative  independence. 

In  the  session  of  1781,  which  did  not  open  till 
October,  Grattan  was  the  great  leader  of  the  popular 
party.  He  was  seconded  with  almost  equal  ability  by 
Flood,  who,  towards  the  end  of  the  preceding  year, 
finding  his  position  of  enforced  silence  unendui^able, 
had  thrown  up  his  government  appointment,  and  had 
been  removed  by  the  king  from  his  seat  on  the  Privy 
Council.  Though  holding  ofiice,  he  had  never  worked 
well  with  the  government ;  and  he  now  joined  his 
old  friends,  and  thereby  regained  much  of  his  foraier 
popularity.  They  had  at  their  back  a  number  of  able 
and  brilliant  men — Hely  Hutchinson,  John  Pitzgibbon 
(afterwards,  when  in  office,  a  bitter  enemy  of  the  cause 
he  now  advocated),  Hussey  Bm^gh,  Barry  Yelverton, 
and  others.  Barry  Yelverton  had  given  notice  of 
motion  for  the  5th  of  December,  1781,  for  the  repeal 
of  Poynings'  Act ;  but  on  that  day  news  came  of  a  great 
disaster — the  siu'render  of  Lord  Cornwallis  and  his 
whole  army  in  America,  which  ruined  the  cause  of 
England  in  the  war.  Whereupon  Yelverton,  abandon- 
ing his  motion  for  the  time,  moved  an  addi'ess  of  loyalty 
and  attachment  to  the  king,  which  was  carried.  The 
repeal  of  Poynings'  Law  was,  however,  again  moved  in 
the  same  month  by  Ploocl,  but  the  motion  was  defeated 
by  government. 

Dm^ing  all  this  session  the  government  authorities 
were  able  to  secui'e  a  majority  by  a  plentiful  distribu- 
tion of  patronage  ;  so  that  it  would  have  been  quite 
useless  to  bring  forward  a  motion  for  legislative  in- 
dependence. At  last  Grattan,  hopeless  of  being  able  to 
contend  in  parliament  against  the  forces  of  corruption, 


480 


A  child's  history  of  IRELAND.       [cHAP.  LX. 


detennined  to  let  the  empire  hear  the  voice  of  even  a 
more   powerful   pleader.     A    convention   of   delegates 
from  the  Ulster  Volunteers  was  summoned  for  the  1 5th 
February  at  Dungannon,  the  old  home  of 
A.i).  1J83    Hugh  O'jS'eill.     Two  hundred  and  forty- 
two  delegates  from  143  Yoluuteer  cor2)s  of 
Ulster,  most  of  them  men  of  wealth  and  station,  assem- 
bled in  the  Dissenting  Meeting  House  of  Dungannon. 


Dungannon  Meeting-House  at  the  time  of  the  Convention. 
From  "The  Anthologia  Hibernica  "  1793,  II.,  321 

The  proceedings  were  managed  chiefly  by  Grattan, 
Plood,  and  Lord  Charlemont ;  and  thirteen  resolutions 
were  adopted,  of  which  the  most  important  were  : — 

That  the  king,  lords,  and  commons  of  Ireland  have 
alone  the  right  to  legislate  for  the  country : 

That  Poynings'  Law  is  unconstitutional  and  a  giiev- 
ance,  and  should  be  revoked  : 

That  the  ports  of  Ireland  should  be  open  to  all 
nations  not  at  war  with  the  king : 


CHAP.  LX.]  LEGISLATIVE  INDEPENDENCE.  431 

That  a  permanent  mutiny  bill  is  unconstitutional : 

And  "That  as  men  and  Irishmen,  as  Christians  and 
as  Protestants,  we  rejoice  in  the  relaxation  of  the  penal 
laws  against  our  Roman  Catholic  fellow-suhjects  ;  and 
we  conceive  the  measui-e  to  be  fraught  with  the  hap- 
piest consequences  to  the  Union  and  prosperity  to  the 
inhabitants  of  Ireland."  This  last  was  inserted  at  the 
instance  of  Grattan ;  and,  among  its  most  ardent  sup- 
porters were  three  clergymen  delegates — one  belonging 
to  the  Established  Church,  the  other  two  Presbyte- 
rians. The  resolutions  of  the  Dungannon  Convention 
were  adopted  by  all  the  Volunteer  corps  of  Ireland ;  and 
they  formed  the  basis  of  the  momentous  legislation 
that  followed.  These  spii'it- stirring  proceedings  were 
altogether  the  work  of  Protestants,  for  the  Catholics 
were  still  shut  out  fi'om  taking  any  part  in  them. 

On  the  day  that  the  Dungannon  resolutions  were 
passed,  Mr.  Luke  Gardiner  introduced  a  measui^e  for 
the  further  relief  of  Catholics,  which,  after  some  oppo- 
sition and  delay,  was  adopted.  They  were  allowed  to 
buy,  sell,  and  otherwise  dispose  of  lands  the  same  as 
their  Protestant  neighboui^s.  The  statute  against  cele- 
brating and  hearing  Mass,  and  those  requiring  the 
registration  of  priests,  and  forbidding  the  residence  of 
bishops  and  other  clergy,  were  aU  repealed.  Catholic 
schoolmasters  could  teach  schools,  and  Catholics  could 
be  guardians  of  children  ;  the  law  prohibiting  a 
Catholic  fi'om  having  a  horse  worth  more  than  £5  was 
repealed,  as  well  as  those  which  made  Catholics  pay  for 
losses  by  robberies,  and  which  forbade  them  to  come  to 
live  in  Limerick  and  Galway. 

The  next  meeting  of  parliament  was  on  the  16th 
April  1782.  The  citizens  of  Dublin,  believing  that  what 
they  had  long  hoped  for  was  coming,  were  all  abroad : 


432  A  child's  history  of  Ireland,     [chap.  lx. 

and  among  tlicm,  the  Yolunteers  were  conspicuons  with 
their  bands,  banners,  and  bright  nniforms.  The  nsnal 
address  was  moved,  to  which  Grattan  moved  an  amend- 
ment. He  was  very  ill  at  the  time,  and  when  he  rose 
he  was  pale  and  trembling ;  but,  as  he  went  on,  he 
gathered  strength  and  energy ;  and  his  splendid  speech 
moved  the  whole  house  to  uncontrollable  excitement. 
The  amendment  comprised  all  the  chief  demands  of  the 
Protestant  Irish  people;  ending  with  the  declaration 
that  the  king  and  Irish  parliament  alone  had  the  right 
to  make  laws  for  Ireland.  These  were  merely  a  repeti- 
tion of  the  Dungannon  resolutions,  with  the  exception 
of  that  relating  to  Catholic  emancipation,  which  was 
not  expressly  mentioned.  The  amendment  was  unani- 
mously agreed  to.  The  next  part  of  the  proceedings 
was  in  the  English  parliament.     On  the  17th  of  May, 

a  resolution  for  the  repeal  of  the  Sixth  of 
A.D.  1J83     George  I.  was  proposed  in  the  lords  by  the 

earl  of  Shelbm^ne,  and  in  the  commons  by 
Charles  James  Fox ;  to  which  both  houses  agreed. 

This  concession,  known  as  the  "Act  of  Repeal," 
was  communicated  by  the  viceroy  to  the  Irish  parlia- 
ment at  its  meeting  of  the  27th  of  May.  It  was 
interpreted  to  mean  that  England  gave  Ireland  an  in- 
dependent parliament,  over  which  it  renounced  all 
authority,  annulled  Poynings'  Law,  restored  to  the 
Irish  lords  the  right  to  hear  appeals,  abolished  the 
right  of  appeal  to  the  English  lords,  and  in  general 
yielded  all  the  demands  of  Grattan' s  amendments. 
The  news  was  received  in  Ireland  with  a  tremendous 
outbui'st  of  joy,  both  in  the  House  and  among  the 
people  all  over  the  country  ;  and  as  an  evidence  of 
gratitude,  the  parliament  voted  to  the  British  navy 
20,000  men  and  £100,000. 


CHAP.  LX.]  LEGISLATIVE  INDEPENDENCE. 


433 


It  was  felt  and  acknowledged  that  this  consumma- 
tion was  mainly  due  to  Grattan.  "  The  man  who, 
diuing  the  last  anxious  years,  had  stood  forth  from 
his  countrymen,  heyond  all  rivalry  and  all  comparison, 
was  Hemy  Grattan.  His  splendid  eloquence,  the  per- 
fect confidence  which  was  felt  in  his  honour  and  in  his 
disinterestedness,  the  signal  skill,  energy,  and  modera- 
tion with  which  he  had  at  once  animated  and  controlled 
the  patriotic  party  were  universally  acknowledged,  and 
at  this  time  almost  universally  admired."^'     The  Irish 


m 


Grattan's  House  at  Tinnehinch  in  1824.     From  Brewer': 
Drawn  by  Petrie. 


Beauties  of  Ireland," 


parliament  voted  him  a  grant  of  £100,000.  But  he 
accepted  only  £50,000,  and  even  that  after  much 
persuasion.  With  this  he  bought  an  estate  in  Queen's 
Coimty :  and  he  took  up  his  permanent  residence  in  a 
beautiful  spot  that  he  loved  :  Tinnehinch,  near  Ennis- 
keiTy  in  Wicklow,  twelve  miles  from  Dublin. 


*  Lecky,  '*  History  of  Ireland  in  the  ISth  century,"  ii.,  31o. 

O     T7 


434  A  child's  history  of  Ireland,    [chap.  lxi. 

Hood  was  of  opinion  that  the  English  parliament 
Bhonld  have  gone  farther  by  formally  renouncing  the 
right  to  make  laws  for  Ireland  :  and,  as  confirming  his 
view,  the  English  parliament,  in  January  of  the  follow- 
ing year — 1783 — when  Lord  Shclburne  was  prime 
minister,  actually  passed  the  ''Act  of  Renunciation," 
declaring  that  Ireland's  right  to  be  bound  only  by  the 
laws  made  by  the  king  and  the  Irish  parliament  was 
"  established  and  ascertained  for  ever,  and  shall  at  no 
time  hereafter  be  questioned  or  questionable." 


CHAPTER  LXI. 

grattan's     parliament. 

A.D.  1783-1785.-George  III. 

FTER  1782  the  only  connexion  between  the  two 
parliaments  of  England  and  Ireland  was 
that  the  king  was  head  of  both.  Beyond 
this  they  were,  at  least  in  theoiy,  quite 
independent  of  one  another.  The  English 
parliament  was  free  to  legislate  for  England,  but  not 
for  Ireland ;  and  the  Irish  parliament  could  make  any 
laws  it  pleased  for  Ireland,  subject  only,  by  the  con- 
stitution, to  the  veto  of  the  king,  to  which  the  English 
parliament  was  also  subject.  Eut  now  this  free  Irish 
parliament  stood  sadly  in  need  of  reform ;  for  it  was, 
unhappily,  as  bad  a  type  of  parliament  as  could  well  be 
conceived.  Bad  as  it  was,  however,  Grattan  and  his 
followers  were  only  too  glad  to  accept  it,  believing 
that  refonn  would  come  in  due  coui'se.  "With  all  its 
shortcomings,   it   encoui'aged   trade   and   manufactiu'e. 


CHAP.  LXI.]  GKATTAn's  PARLIAMENT.  435 

and  developed  the  natui-al  resources  of  the  countiy  ;  so 
that  Ireland  prospered  under  its  administration,  as  will 
be  further  noticed  in  the  next  chapter.  Let  us  look 
at  some  of  the  worst  features  of  this  parliament. 

Of  the  300  members  more  than  100  were  pensioners 
of  the  government,  or  held  government  situations,  all 
of  whom  voted  just  as  they  were  directed  by  the 
authorities.  jS'early  all  the  boroughs  were  in  the 
hands  of  a  few  lords  and  rich  men,  most  of  them  on 
the  side  of  the  government ;  so  that  any  man  might 
get  to  be  a  member  of  parliament  by  paying  a  sum  of 
money  to  some  borough  owner,  who  then  ordered  the 
people  to  elect  him  :  all  which  was  a  very  money- 
making  business  ;  for  sometimes  a  person  who  wanted 
to  be  elected  paid  as  much  as  £10,000  for  his  seat.  A 
parliament  ought  to  consist  of  members  elected  by  the 
fi'ee  votes  of  those  who  have  the  fi-anchise — the  right  to 
vote  :  but,  of  the  300  members  of  this  parliament,  not 
more  than  70  or  80  were  returned  by  the  free  votes  of 
the  people.  All  this  was  a  bad  state  of  things  :  but  it 
was  hard  to  remedy ;  for  these  placemen  and  borough 
owners,  and  those  whom  they  got  elected,  were  the 
very  men  who  had  the  making,  altering,  and  repealing 
of  the  laws  in  their  hands.  Then,  again,  the  spurious 
boroughs  formed  in  the  time  of  the  Stuarts  (p.  283) 
still  existed,  many  of  which  contained  only  about  a 
dozen  electors ;  so  that  it  was  always  easy,  by  merely 
spending  a  little  money  in  bribery,  to  have  persons 
elected  who  would  back  up  the  government  in  every- 
thing. But,  perhaps,  the  worst  featui-e  was  that  the 
Eoman  Catholics,  who  formed  four-fifths  of  the  popula- 
tion, were  totally  shut  out :  a  Catholic  could  neither  be 
a  member  nor  vote  for  a  member.  The  parliament  did 
not  represent  the  nation  ;  and  it  did  not  represent  even 
2f2 


436  A  child's  history  of  Ireland,    [chap.  lxi. 

the  rrotcstant  people.  Though  it  had  the  name  of 
"being,  after  1782,  independent  of  the  English  govern- 
ment, it  really  was  not  so ;  for  the  Irish  authorities 
Tvere  directly  under  the  influence  of  the  English 
Council,  and  could  almost  always  secure  a  majority  in 
parliament.  The  government  of  Ireland  was,  in  fact, 
a  sort  of  oligarchy,  in  which  the  people  of  the  country 
had  hardly  any  voice  ;  and  the  ministry  might  do 
almost  what  they  pleased.  There  never  was  a  parlia- 
ment more  in  need  of  reform :  and  reform  would  have 
saved  it,  and  saved  the  country,  the  horrors  of  1798. 

Two  great  questions  now  lay  hefore  the  country  : — 
Parliamentary  reform  and  the  removal  of  the  restric- 
tions which  still  remained  on  Irish  commerce.  A  third 
question  was  Catholic  emancipation ;  but  people's  minds 
were  so  occupied  with  the  other  two,  that  this  was  for 
the  present  left  veiy  much  in  the  backgi'ound.  The 
Volunteers  took  up  the  question  of  parliamentary 
reform — the  all  important  reform  to  put  an  end  to 
bribery  and  corruption — to  secure  that  all  the  members 
of  parliament  should  be  elected  by  the  free  votes  of  the 
people.  Several  meetings  were  held,  at  which  the 
subject  was  discussed  ;  and  a  general  convention  in 
Dublin  of  delegates  from  all  the  Volunteer  corps  of 
Ireland  was  arranged  for  the  10th  of  IN'ovember,  1783  ; 
all  which  proceedings  were  very  alarming  to  the 
government,  who  wanted  no  reform  of  any  kind  in  the 
parliamentary  representation.  The  parliament  met  in 
October.  The  necessity  for  retrenchment  in  the  civil 
administration,  which  had  gi'own  costly  mainly  thi'ough 
the  corruption  of  government,  was  before  men's  minds, 
and  was  strongly  advocated  by  Grattan ;  but  Elood 
proposed  a  reduction  in  the  army,  in  which  the  sense 
of  the  house  was  against  him ;    and  Grattan  opposed 


CHAP.    LXI.]  GRATTAN's  PARLIAMENT.  437 

the  proposal  witli  much  vehemence.  Between  those 
two  great  men  an  estrangement  had  heen  gradually 
growing  up  :  and,  in  one  of  the  debates  on  Flood's 
motion,  there  occuiTed  a  bitter  and  very  lamentable 
altercation  between  them,  which  terminated  their 
friendship  for  ever.  Yet,  subsequently,  each  bore 
generous  testimony  to  the  greatness  of  the  other. 
The  10th  November  came,  and  160  Volunteer  dele- 
gates assembled  in  the  Eotunda,  in  Dublin. 
A.D.  1783  They  elected  as  chaii^man  the  Earl  of 
Charlemont,  the  commander  of  the  whole 
force.  The  meeting  was  held  while  the  parliament 
was  sitting  close  by ;  and,  after  much  discussion,  cer- 
tain reforms  were  agreed  to,  which  were  introduced 
immediately  afterwards  into  parliament  by  Flood  in  the 
form  of  a  bill.  The  debate  was  a  stoi^my  one,  and 
the  scene  in  the  old  parliament  house  is  described  as 
"  almost  terrific."  Barry  Yelverton,  afterwards  Lord 
Avonmore,  now  attorney-general,  and  of  course  on  the 
government  side,  led  the  opposition  to  the  bill,  at  the 
same  time  denouncing  vehemently  the  attempt  to  coerce 
the  parliament  by  an  armed  body  of  men ;  and  John 
Pitzgibbon,  now  the  leading  opponent  of  reform,  and 
others,  followed  in  the  same  strain.  Flood,  in  a  power- 
ful speech,  advocated  the  bill  and  defended  the  action 
of  the  Yolunteers.  Grattan  supported  it,  but  not  very 
earnestly,  for  he  maintained  it  was  not  the  right  time 
to  bring  it  forward ;  and  John  Philpot  CuiTan,  who  had 
been  elected  for  Kilbeggan  this  same  year — 1783 — 
made  his  first  parliamentary  speech  in  favour  of  it. 
But  the  government  party  were  too  strong,  and  the  bill 
was  rejected  by  a  large  majority.  Thus  the  efforts  of  the 
Popular  Party  to  reform  a  corrupt  parliament  ended,  for 
the  present,  in  failui^e  thi'ough  government  opposition. 


488  A  CHILD'S  HISTORY  OF  IRELAND.      [CHAP.  LXI. 

The  result  produced  f>rcat  iudi ^nation,  and  there  were 
serious  fears  of  a  collision  between  the  Volunteers  and 
the  government :  but  the  counsels  of  Lord  Charlemont 
prevailed ;  and  on  the  2nd  of  December  the  Volunteer 
convention  was  adjourned  without  any  day  being  fixed 
for  next  meeting.  This  was  the  death  blow  to  the 
influence  of  the  Volunteers ;  and,  though  they  held 
together  and  continued  to  be  eni'olled  for  years,  they 
never  afterwards  played  any  important  part  in  the 
political  a&iirs  of  the  country.  Eut  they  broke  away 
from  the  influence  of  Lord  Charlemont  and  became 
more  revolutionary  in  their  ideas,  after  the  example  of 
France.  In  the  f oUowingyear  ( 1 784)  Flood  made  another 
effort  at  reform,  but  the  Irish  government  successfully 
resisted  all  attempts  to  improve  the  representation. 

The  Volunteers,  deserted  by  their  leaders,  now  formed 
themselves  into  clubs  and  associations,  and 
A.D.  17S4:  held  secret  meetings.  In  Dublin,  Belfast, 
and  elsewhere,  they  began  to  drill  men  in 
the  use  of  arms,  Catholics  as  well  as  Protestants ;  where- 
upon the  government  increased  the  army  to  15,000 
men,  and  took  measui'es  to  revive  the  militia,  a  force 
in  the  service  of  the  crown.  Eut  the  people  hated  the 
militia,  and  the  country  became  greatly  disturbed. 
Scenes  of  violence  occiuTed  everywhere.  Even  in 
Dublin  the  mobs  paraded  the  streets,  attacked  and 
maimed  soldiers,  broke  into  shops,  and  ill-used  the 
shopkeepers  for  selling  English  goods.  It  was  a  time 
of  great  trouble  and  alarm. 

The  commercial  arrangements  between  England  and 
Ireland  needed  reform  as  much  as  did  the  parliamentaiy 
representation ;  for  the  regulations  for  the  export  and 
import  of  goods  between  the  two  countries  were  all 
unfair  to  Ireland.     There  were  prohibitory  duties  on 


CHAP.   LXl.]  GBATTAN'S  PARLIAMENT.  439 

many  kinds  of  Irish  goods  exported  to  England,  but 
little  or  none  on  English  goods  brought  to  Ireland  ;  so 
that  while  English  manufacturers  and  traders  had  free 
scope  to  sell  their  goods  in  Ireland,  the  Irish  could  not 
sell  theirs  in  England,  which  repressed  the  little  that 
remained  of  Irish  commerce  and  manufactiu'es,  and 
helped  to  keep  the  country  in  a  state  of  poverty. 

A  movement  was  now  made  to  remedy  this  state 
of  things  ;  and  here  the  Irish  government  were  on  the 
side  of  reform,  though  their  ideas  fell  very  short  of 
those  of  the  opposition.  Mr.  Thomas  Orde,  chief 
secretary,  on  the  suggestion  of  William  Pitt,  then 
Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  in  England,  brought  down 
from  the  castle,  on  the  part  of  the  government,  a  scheme 
designed  by  Pitt,  embodied  in  eleven  propositions,  which 
would  go  far  to  remedy  the  injustice,  all  of  which  were 
agreed  to  and  passed  thi'ough  parliament  in  the  shape  of 
resolutions  (in  1785).  They  were  forthwith  transmitted 
to  England  for  adoption  there ;  for  as  the  restrictions 
had  been  the  work  of  the  English  parliament,  it  was 
only  in  England  they  could  be  removed.  But  when 
they  were  proposed  by  Pitt,  there  arose  violent  opposi- 
tion ;  petitions  against  them  poured  in  fi'om  companies, 
manufacturers,  and  merchants,  in  all  parts  of  Eng- 
land, who  insisted  on  maintaining  the  arrangements 
which  were  for  the  advantage  of  themselves  and  for 
the  disadvantage  of  Ireland.  Whereupon  Pitt,  fearing 
to  face  the  storm,  abandoned  Orde's  bill,  and  brought 
down  to  the  English  parliament  twenty  propositions  of 
his  own,  much  less  favoui^able  to  Ireland — containinf"* 
several  injiuious  restrictions — and  had  them  passed. 
These,  on  being  transmitted  to  the  Irish  government, 
and  introduced  by  them  to  the  Irish  house  in  Argust 
1785,  were  received  by  the  opposition  with  an  outburst 


440  A  child's  history  of  IRELAND.     [CHAP.  LXII. 

of  indignation.  Flood  led  tlie  opposition  with  all  Ids 
old  fire  and  energy.  Grattan  denounced  tlie  propositions 
in  one  of  his  finest  speeches ;  and  after  an  all-night 
stormy  debate,  the  government  had  so  small  a  majority 
— only  19 — that  they  thought  it  more  prudent  to  with- 
draw the  bill ;  which  caused  great  rejoicings  in  Dublin. 
Thus  the  whole  scheme  of  reform,  both  parliamentary 
and  commercial,  fell  through,  and  matters  remained 
much  as  they  were  till  the  time  of  the  Union. 


CHAPTEll  LXII. 

EEYIYAL    OF    SECRET    SOdETIES. 
A.D.  1785-1791. -George  III. 

^"URENG  the  year  1785,  discontent  prevailed 
everywhere  in  Ireland ;  for  which  there 
were  various  sufficient  causes.  The  Catho- 
lics were  still  oppressed  by  the  penal  laws ; 
and  the  farmers  of  all  religions  were 
harassed  by  middlemen.  Eut  tithes  and 
tithe-proctors  were  perhaps  the  most  po- 
tent influence  for  disturbance  about  this  time.  All  house- 
holders. Catholics  and  Dissenters  as  well  as  Anglican 
Protestants,  had  to  pay  "  Tithes  "  for  the  support  of  the 
clergy  of  the  Established  Church.  These  would  no 
doubt  have  been  generally  paid  quietly  enough  but  for 
the  action  of  persons  called  "  tithe-proctors,"  or  "tithe- 
farmers,"  who  collected  them  for  absentee  clergymen, 
or  for  those  ^'ho  were  resident,  but  who  for  various 


CHAP.  LXII.]       REVIVAL  OF  SECRET  SOCIETIES.  441 

reasons  were  not  willing  to  enter  personally  on  the 
business  of  collection.  These  proctors,  some  of  them 
Catholics,  some  Protestants,  commonly  received  a  fixed 
proportion  of  the  tithes — a  third  or  a  fourth — to  pay  for 
collection,  so  that  it  was  their  interest  to  raise  as  much 
money  as  possible ;  and  they  extorted  from  the  veiy 
poorest  of  the  peasantiy  contributions  far  beyond  what 
the  law  contemplated.  Moreover,  grazing  lands  were 
exempt,  so  that  the  impost  fell  chiefly  on  poor  cottiers. 
A  rich  grazier  with  two  or  three  thousand  a- year  paid 
no  tithes,  while  a  half  starved  cottier  had  to  pay  them 
for  his  little  plot ;  and  this  again  discoiu'aged  tillage  and 
tended  to  make  grass  land  of  the  whole  country.  The 
people  also  of  all  denominations  had  to  pay  "  Church- 
rate,"  or  "Church- cess,"  a  tax  to  keep  the  Protestant 
chui'ches  in  repair.  The  payment  of  tithes  and  chuixh- 
rate  was  resented  by  the  Presbyterians  even  more  bitterly 
than  by  the  Eoman  Catholics.  Although  it  would  have 
been  quite  easy  to  provide  a  remedy  for  tithes — some- 
thing like  the  measure  adopted  half  a  centuiy  later  (in 
1838) — and  though  any  reasonable  proposal  of  the  kind 
would  have  been  approved  by  the  authorities  in  England, 
the  Irish  government  obstinately  resisted  every  attempt 
to  settle  the  matter,  in  spite  of  the  earnest  representa- 
tions of  Grattan  and  his  party. 

All  through  1785  and  1786  the  country  was  fearfully 
distui'bed,  and  the  peasantiy  formed  themselves  into 
illegal  secret  societies.  In  the  south  there  was  a  revival 
of  the  Whiteboys,  now  calling  themselves  "  Rightboys," 
led  by  an  imaginaiy  "  Captain  Eight."  These  mis- 
guided men,  like  the  AYhiteboys,  committed  outrages  on 
agents,  middlemen,  tithe-proctors,  and  others.  The 
tithe-proctors  especially,  who  had  rendered  themselves 
intensely  odious  by  their  cruel  extortions,  were  pursued 


442  A  child's  history  of  Ireland,   [chap,  lxii 

mercilessly,  often  mutilated,  and  sometimes  killed. 
Another  class,  who  were  mostly  blameless,  the  Tro- 
testant  curates,  always  present  to  bear  the  odium,  and 
stri\'ing:  to  live  on  poor  incomes  of  £40  or  £50  a-year, 
often  suffered  grievous  ill-treatment.  The  Eightboys 
were  denounced  by  the  Catholic  clergy,  especially  by 
Dr.  Butler,  archbishop  of  Cashol,  and  Dr.  Troy,  bishop 
of  Ossory  ;  but  they  still  continued  their  evil  courses. 

In  the  north — in  Armagh,  Tyrone,  and  Down — 
another  secret  society  had  grown  up  among  Protestants 
and  Presbyterians,  called  "  Peep-o' -day  boys,"  and  after- 
wards known  as  "Protestant  boys"  and  "Wreckers." 
These  directed  their  hostilities  against  Catholics,  who 
again  in  self-defence  formed  themselves  into  bands 
called  "  Defenders."  These  two  parties,  who  belonged 
generally  to  the  lowest  class  of  the  peasantry,  did 
immense  damage — fought,  maimed  and  killed  each  other, 
and  otherwise  caused  great  disorder. 

The  authorities  were  veiy  much  alarmed  at  the  state 
of  the  country ;  and  there  were  long  and  anxious  dis- 
cussions as  to  the  best  means  of  restoring  quiet.  So  far 
as  Dublin  was  concerned — for  the  city  was  as  much 
troubled  as  the  north  and  south — a  plan  was  adopted, 
though  after  some  opposition,  which  ultimately  tiu^ned 
out  an  excellent  and  successful  one  : — the  government 
had  a  bill  passed  for  the  appointment  of  a 

A.D.  1^86    number  of  constables  to  aid  the  city  watch- 
men.    This  small  body  of  men  originated 
the  present  splendid  force  of  the  Dublin  metropolitan 
police. 

Pitzgibbon,  who  was  now  the  leading  influence  against 
remedial  measures  of  every  kind,  attempted  to  put 
down  the  disturbances  by  causing  the  government  to 
pass  a  crushing   Crimes   bill,   that  is,  a  bill   to    give 


CHAP.  LXII.]      REVIVAL  OF  SECRET  SOCIETIES.  443 

more  power  to  the  authorities  to  apprehend  and  punish 
the  disturbers.  Grattan  was  comdnced  of  the  necessity 
of  some  bill  of  the  kind ;  but  he  wished  for  one  much 
less  severe;  and  he  succeeded  in  having  struck  out 
some  very  violent  and  dangerous  clauses  inserted  by 
Fitzgibbon,  and  in  limiting  the  duration  of  the  bill  to 
thi'ee  years:  He  endeavoured  also  to  have  a  parliamen- 
taiy  inquiry  to  ascertain  the  causes  of  the  discontent 
and  disorders,  with  a  view  to  their  removal ;  but  here 
he  was  overruled;  and  this  "Engine  of  Redi^ess,"  as 
he  called  it,  was  rejected. 

The  Popidar  Party  in  parliament  continued  as  vigilant 
and  active  as  ever,  and  gave  the  government  great 
trouble.  The  usual  means  were  employed  to  break 
down  their  influence  :  but  though  the  country  had  long 
been  accustomed  to  this,  probably  at  no  previous  period 
was  there  so  much  gross  political  corruption  as  during 
the  lord  lieutenancy  of  the  Marquess  of  Buckingham 
from  1787  to  1790.  He  bribed  openly  and  unsparingly, 
wherever  he  thought  it  would  purchase  supporters  for 
the  Court  Party ;  and  he  dismissed  all  holders  of  govern- 
ment offices  who  showed  any  disposition  to  oppose  him. 
jN'umbers  of  persons  were  made  peers  and  baronets, 
and  many  peers  were  promoted  ;  and  he  added  £13,000 
a-year  to  the  pension  list,  which  before  his  time  had 
gTown  to  the  yearly  sum  of  £100,000.     He  became 

at  last  so  intensely  unpopular,  that  when 
A. D.  1790    he   retired   he   had   to   steal   away  from 

Dublin  by  night. 
During  the  year  1790  the  north  was  far  more  dis- 
tiu'bed  than  the  south  ;  and  the  Peep-o'-day  boys 
and  the  Defenders  increased  and  multiplied,  continued 
their  outrages,  and  fought  their  battles.  Among  the 
better  educated  classes,  who  saw  no  hope  of  reform  by 


444  A  child's  history  of  IRELAND.    [CHAP.  LXII. 

parliamentary  and  constitutional  means,  the  doctiincs  of 
the  French  llevolution  found  many  supporters.  Com- 
mittees were  formed,  partly  to  stem  the  tide  of  political 
corruption,  and  partly  to  discuss  the  best  methods  of 
government.  The  members  of  the  Popular  Party,  who 
had  been  the  leading  men  in  the  old  Volunteers,  formed 
themselves  into  clubs  which  greatly  influenced  public 
opinion ;  of  which  the  Whig  Club  in  Dublin,  and  the 
Northern  Whig  Club  in  EeKast,  were  specially  promi- 
nent. Eoth  of  them  included  among  their  members 
many  historic  personages  : — Lord  Charlemont,  Lord 
Moira,  the  Duke  of  Leinster,  Grattan,  IS'apper  Tandy, 
John  Philpot  Cm-ran,  Wolfe  Tone,  and  others.  These 
clubs  unsparingly  exposed  the  evil  system  of  the 
government ;  but  the  government,  safe  in  its  pensioned 
and  corrupt  majority,  continued  its  course  imchanged. 

The  Ulster  Presbyterians  were  specially  active  and 
earnest  in  these  movements.  The  anniversary  of  the 
taking  of  the  Bastille,  the  great  government  prison  in 
Paris,  by  the  Eevolutionists  two  years  before,  was 
celebrated  in  Belfast  in  July  by  the 
A.D.  1^91  [N'ortheni  ^Tiig  Club,  joined  by  all  the 
Volunteers  of  the  neighboui-hood,  in  a 
great  procession,  with  di'ums,  banners,  and  flags,  on 
which  were  depicted  various  scenes  enacted  at  the 
Revolution.  The  celebration  ended  with  a  banquet, 
where  such  toasts  were  drunk  as  *'  The  National 
Assembly  of  Prance,"  "The  Rights  of  Man,"  &c.,  and 
where  proper  representation  in  parliament,  and  the 
complete  emancipation  of  the  Catholics  were  demanded. 
There  was  nothing  illegal  in  these  proceedings,  but 
they  gave  great  uneasiness  to  the  government,  who, 
with  the  example  of  Prance  before  them,  looked  on  all 
such  movements  with  apprehension. 


CHAP.  LXII.]      REVIVAL  OF  SECRET  SOCIETIES.  445 

Theobald  Wolfe  Tone,  a  man  of  great  determination, 
quite  unselfish,  and  of  remarkable  persuasive  power, 
was  one  of  the  most  prominent  leaders  of  public  opinion 
in  those  times.  Though  a  Protestant,  he  was  appointed 
Secretary  to  the  Catholic  Committee  in  Dublin,  which 
brought  the  Catholics  into  closer  connexion  with  the 
Presbyterians.  In  the  same  year  (1791)  he  visited 
Belfast,  and  thinking  the  JN'orthem  Whig  Club  not  suffi- 
ciently advanced,  he  founded,  in  October,  the  society  of 
United  Irishmen,  the  members  of  which  were  chiefly 
Presbyterians.  The  objects  of  this  society,  which  were 
quite  legal,  were  : — to  unite  people  of  all  classes  and 
religions  in  one  gi'eat  organisation,  this  main  idea  being 
indicated  in  the  veiy  name — United  Irishmen ;  to  reform 
parliament  so  as  to  break  down  the  corrupting  influence 
of  the  government ;  and  to  remove  the  grievances  of  all 
Irishmen  of  eveiy  religious  persuasion.  This  last  chiefly 
aimed  at  the  repeal  of  the  penal  laws  against  Catholics  : 
for  the  leaders  believed  that  if  all  the  people  of  the 
coimtry  were  united,  their  demand  for  reform  could  not 
be  resisted.  Tone  next  formed  a  branch  of  the  society 
in  Dublin  under  the  auspices  of  the  Catholic  Com- 
mittee :  James  tapper  Tandy,  a  Protestant  shopkeeper 
in  Dublin,  was  its  secretary. 

Yet  with  all  this  unrest  and  disturbance,  business  of 
every  kind  was  extending,  and  the  country  was  rapidly 
advancing  in  prosperity.  This  was  due  to  several 
causes,  of  which  the  principal  were  :  the  removal  of 
the  most  ruinous  of  the  restrictions  on  trade ;  the  relief 
of  Eoman  Catholics  from  their  worst  disabilities,  which 
enabled  them  to  take  a  part,  and  invest  their  capital,  in 
industries ;  and  the  restoration  of  the  freedom  of  Parlia- 
ment, which  gave  the  authorities  a  free  hand  to  develop 
the  resources  of  the  country. 


440 


A  child's  history  ok  IRELAND.      [ciIAP.  LXIIT. 


Let  US  now  interrupt  tlie  purely  political  histoiy, 
in  order  to  trace  the  advances  made,  and  tlie  checks 
suffered,  by  the  Catholics,  in  their  efforts  to  free  them- 
selves from  their  remaining  hardships. 


CHAPTER  LXIII. 


CATHOLIC    PROGRESS   TOWARDS   EMANCIPATION. 
A.D.  1792-1793.— George  III. 

'ORE  than  thirty  years  had  elapsed  since  the 
Catholic  Committee  had  been  founded. 
Its  original  pui'pose,  as  we  have  seen, 
was  to  look  after  Catholic  interests  in 
general,  and  especially  to  obtain  a  relaxation  or  repeal 
of  the  Penal  Laws.  The  members  felt  that  this  business 
gave  them  quite  enough  to  do,  and  as  a  body  they  did 
not  mix  themselTes  up  much  in  other  political  move- 
ments. They  had  no  wish  to  come  in  conflict  with  the 
government,  and  they  were  not  much  influenced  by  the 
revolutionary  ideas  so  prevalent  at  this  time  among  the 
Presbyterians.  Indeed  it  was  only  among  the  prosperous 
business  Catholics  of  the  towns  that  there  appeared 
much  political  life  of  any  kind.  The  great  body  of 
Catholics  through  the  country  had  been,  during  the 
whole  of  the  century,  so  depressed,  and  had  been  re- 
duced to  such  a  state  of  ignorance,  that  they  had  hardly 
a  thought  or  an  opinion  on  anything  beyond  the  neces- 
saries of  life,  with  a  vague  consciousness  that  they  were 
su<1ering  under  wrongs  which  ought  to  be  removed. 
There  were  two  parties  in  the  Catholic  Committee, 


CHAP.  LXITI.]  CATHOLIC  PKOGRESS.  447 

the  Aristocratic  and  the  Democratic.  The  former 
included  the  Catholic  nobility  and  the  Catholic  bishops : 
they  looked  with  horror  on  the  French  Eevoliition  and 
its  excesses,  and  were  inclined  to  be  timid  in  agitating 
for  their  own  emancipation.  The  Democratic  party 
consisted  chiefly  of  business  men,  of  whom  the  ablest 
and  most  far-seeing  was  John  Keogh,  a  Dublin 
merchant.  These  were  for  pressing  their  claims  boldly, 
including  the  right  to  vote  at  elections,  which  the 
Aristocratic  party  wished  to  postpone  to  some  future 
time.  This  question  was  eagerly  and  warmly  discussed ; 
and  in  order  to  clear  themselves  from  even  the  suspicion 
of  sympathy  with  revolutionary  principles,  sixty-four 
timid  members  of  the  Aristocratic  party  seceded  from 
the  committee. 

The  action  of  the  democratic  section  had  the  approval 
of  the  general  body  of  outside  Catholics ;  and  they 
carried  their  point,  notwithstanding  the  defection  of  the 
aristocratic  members. 

On  the  2nd  December  they  convened  a 
A.D.  1*93  meeting  of  Catholic  delegates  from  diffe- 
rent parts  of  Ireland  in  the  Tailors'  Hall, 
a  spacious  building  in  Back -lane,  Dublin — whence  this 
assemblage  is  sometimes  called  the  ''  Back-lane  Parlia- 
ment"— at  which  a  petition  to  the  king  was  prepared, 
asking  for  admission  to  all  the  rights  of  the  constitution. 
It  was  signed  by  Dr.  Troy,  Catholic  archbishojD  of  Dublin, 
by  Dr.  Moylan,  bishop  of  Cork,  and  by  all  the  country 
delegates.  As  they  believed,  with  good  reason,  that  the 
English  government  was  better  disposed  towards  them 
than  the  Irish,  they  commissioned  John  Keogh  and  four 
other  delegates  to  present  the  petition  to  the  king 
direct,  instead  of  following  the  usual  course  of  sending 
it   through  the  Irish   authorities.      On  their  way  to 


44:8  A  child's  history  of  Ireland,  [chap.  lxhi. 

England  the  delegates  passed  througli  Belfast,  where 
they  got  a  grand  reception ;  the  Presbyterian  populace 
unyoked  the  horses  from  the  carnage,  and  drew  Keogh 
and  his  companions  in  triumph  through  the  streets.  On 
the  2nd  January  1793,  the  petition  was  presented  to 
his  Majesty,  who  received  it  very  graciously. 

The  wisdom  of  Keogh  and  his  party  was  proved  by 
what  happened  soon  afterwards.  In  the  dangerous  and 
uncertain  state  of  things  on  the  Continent,  with  the 
rapid  spread  of  sympathy  in  Ireland  for  the  Eevolution, 
and  while  a  war  with  France  was  quite  probable,  it  was 
considered  of  great  consequence  that  the  Roman  Catho- 
lics should  be  well  a:ffected  towards  the  government. 
Accordingly,  on  the  9th  of  April,  mainly  through  the 
influence  of  the  English  ministers,  aided  by  the  powerful 
advocacy  of  Grattan  and  his  party,  but  much  against  the 
wishes  of  the  Irish  government,  a  bill  was 

A.D.  1793  passed  through  the  Irish  ]3aiiiament  which 
granted  the  Catholics  a  substantial  measure 
of  relief.  The  franchise  was  restored  to  them,  so  that  all 
who  were  Eorty- shilling  Ereeholders^'  had  the  right  to 
vote  for  members  of  parliament;  and  as  since  1778 
(p.  420)  these  freeholders  had  gi^own  very  numerous, 
this  measui'e  gave  the  Irish  Catholics  great  political 
influence.  Besides  this  important  concession,  they  were 
peiTtiitted  by  the  Act  to  enter  Trinity  College,  Dublin, 
and  obtain  degrees ;  almost  all  civil  and  military  situa- 
tions were  opened  to  them  ;  they  could  serve  on  juries 
and  be  justices  of  the  peace  ;    and  the  higher  classes  of 

*  A  man  who  had  a  lease  for  life  was  called  a  Freeholder.  A 
Forty-shilling  Freeholder  was  one  whose  holding  was  worth  at 
least  forty  shillings  over  and  above  the  rent  he  was  bound  to 
pay  by  his  lease.  Nearly  all  the  freeholds  were  up  to  that 
standard. 


CHAP.  LXIII.]  CATHOLIC  PROGRESS.  449 

Catholics  were  allowed  to  cany  arms.  They  miglit 
open  colleges  to  be  affiliated  to  Trinity  College,  provi- 
ded they  were  not  exclusively  for  the  education  of 
Catholics.  An  attempt  was  made  to  insert  a  clause 
admitting  them  to  parliament ;  but  this  wise  provision 
the  Irish  government  unhappily  succeeded  in  defeating. 
In  order  to  have  the  benefit  of  the  act  it  was  neces- 
sary to  take  the  Oath  of  Allegiance,  which  however 
any  Catholic  might  take.  But  many  disabilities  still 
remained ;  the  most  serious  of  which  was  that  no 
Catholic  could  sit  in  parliament:  neither  could  a 
Catholic  be  lord  lieutenant,  or  lord  chancellor,  or  a  privy 
councillor,  or  a  fellow  of  Trinity  College,  or  a  sheri:ffi  or 
sub-sheriff.  Still  the  measui'e  was  a  gi'eat  relief,  and 
the  Catholics  were  very  grateful  for  it ;  but  its  conci- 
liatory effect  was  much  marred  by  the  bitterness  with 
which  lord  chancellor  Fitz  gibbon  spoke  of  his  Catholic 
fellow-countrymen,  though  he  dared  not  oppose  the 
bill.  On  the  other  hand,  in  the  same  session  two  coer- 
cion acts  were  passed  : — the  "  Convention  Act"  against 
''Unlawful  assemblies,"  intended  to  prevent  meetings 
of  delegates  such  as  the  "Back-lane  parliament,"  as 
well  as  delegate  meetings  of  the  United  Irishmen ;  and 
the  "Gunpowder  Act"  to  prevent  the  importation  and 
sale  of  gunpowder  and  anns,  and  to  give  magistrates  the 
power  of  searching  for  arms  wherever  and  whenever 
they  pleased ;  which  applied  to  Protestants  as  well  as 
Catholics.  This  last  was  intended  as  a  precaution 
against  the  danger  of  disaffection  in  case  of  an  invasion ; 
for  the  French  and  English  were  by  this  time  at  war ; 
and  the  dangerous  sympathy  of  the  United  Irishmen  for 
the  French  Eevolutionary  party  was  well  known  to  the 
government. 


3q 


From  MibsStokes'b  "liarly  Christian  Architecture,"  76. 


CHAPTER  LXIY. 


CATHOLIC      DISAPPOINTMENT. 
A.D.  1793-1795.-George  III. 

|T  the  end  of  chapter  Lxn.,  it  was  related  how 
Wolfe  Tone  had  founded  the  Society  of 
United  Irishmen  in  EeKast  and  Dublin, 
a  society  which,  so  far,  had  nothing 
illegal  in  it.  Still  the  goyeniinent  kept 
a  strict  watch  on  these  United  Irishmen,  as  well  as  on 
the  Catholic  Committee,  and  all  such  associations,  so 
as  to  be  ready  for  prosecutions  in  case  they  should  be 
found  to  transgi'ess  the  law  as  it  then  stood. 

At  a  meeting  of  United  Irishmen  held  in  Dublin  in 
Februaiy  1793,  with  the  Hon.  Simon  Butler  as  chair- 
man, and  Oliver  Bond,  a  Dublin  merchant,  as  secretaiy, 
an  address  was  adopted  and  cii'culated,  boldly  censuiing 
the  conduct  of  a  committee  of  the  house  of  lords  for 
having-  in  an  illegal  manner  conducted  a  secret  inquiiy 
into  the  proceedings  of  the  Defenders  (p.  442).  For 
this,  Butler  and  Bond  were  sentenced  by  the  committee, 
without  any  regular  trial,  to  be  imprisoned  for  six 
months  and  to  pay  a  fine  of  £500  each. 

Archibald  Hamilton  Eowan,  the  son  of  a  landed  pro- 
prieter  of  Ulster,  who  had  been  conspicuous  as  a  volun- 
teer, and  was  now  a  United  Irishman,  cii'culated  an  ad- 


CHAP.  LXIV,]         CATHOLIC  DISAPPOINTMENT.  451 

dress  to  the  Yolunteers,  written  by  Dr.  Drennan,  a  well 
known  and  very  talented  literary  man,  an  Ulster  Presby- 
terian, and  the  writer  of  many  stirring  national  ballads 
and  addresses.  For  this,  Eowan  was  prosecuted,  and 
was  defended  with  great  ability  by  Curran.  He  was 
convicted  of  a  seditious  libel,  and  sentenced  to  be 
imprisoned  for  two  years,  and  to  pay  a  fine  of  £500. 
While  Eowan  was  in  prison,  an  emissary  fi'om  France, 
the  Eev.  William  Jackson,  a  Protestant  clergyman  of 
Irish  extraction,  arrived  in  Ireland  to  sound  the  popular 
leaders  about  a  French  invasion.  He  had  with  him  a 
London  attorney  named  Cockayne,  to  whom  he  had 
confided  the  object  of  his  mission  :  but  Cockayne  was 
really  a  spy  paid  by  the  English  government.  These 
two  had  intei-views  with  the  leading  United  Irishmen 
in  Dublin — Wolfe  Tone,  Leonard  Mac  ^ally,  Hamilton 
Eowan  then  in  the  Dublin  Newgate  prison,  and  others. 
Mac  Nally  was  a  Dublin  attorney,  who  managed  the 
legal  business  of  the  United  Irishmen :  he  was  trusted 
by  them  with  their  innermost  secrets,  and  lived  and 
died  in  their  fiiendship  and  confidence  ;  but  long  after 
his  death  it  was  discovered  that  he  was  all  the  time  a 
spy  in  government  pay.  Tone  drew  out  a  report  on  the 
state  of  Ireland  for  Jackson,  who  kept  a  copy  of  it  in 
Eowan' s  handwriting. 

When  the  government,  who  knew  through  Cockayne 
all  that  was  going  on,  thought  matters  sufficiently  ripe, 
they  arrested  Jackson  on  the  28th  of  April  1794. 
Eowan,  knowing  that  his  handwriting  would  betray 
him,  contrived  to  escape  on  the  1st  of  May :  and 
although  a  reward  of  £1500  was  offered  for  his  arrest, 
he  made  his  way  to  France  and  thence  to  America. 
On  the  23rd  of  April  in  the  following  year  Jackson 
was  tried  and  convicted  of  treason  on  the  evidence  of 
2g2 


452  A  child's  history  of  Ireland,    [chap.  lxiv. 

Cockayne.  He  had  managed  however  to  take  a  dose 
of  arsenic  before  coming  into  court,  and  di'opped  dead 
in  the  dock. 

But  now  happened  an  event  which  gave  the  Catholics 
hopes  of  complete  emancipation.  Towards  the  end  of 
1794  people's  minds  became  greatly  excited  in  Ireland 
when  it  became  known  that  Pitt  had  detennined  to 
adopt  a  policy  of  conciliation,  to  drop  coercion,  and  to 
remove  all  the  remaining  restrictions  against  Catholics. 
"With  these  objects  in  view  Lord  Westmoreland  was 
recalled,   and   Earl   Fitzwilliam,    a   just,  liberal,    and 

enlightened  man,  having  large  estates  in 
A.D.  1^95    Ireland,  came  over  as  lord  lieutenant  on 

the  4th  of  Januaiy,  with  full  authority  and 
with  the  fii'm  determination,  which  he  did  not  conceal, 
to  completely  emancipate  the  Catholics  ;  and  they  gave 
him  an  enthusiastic  reception,  for  his  intentions  had 
become  known.  The  proposed  measui'e  would,  as  Pitt 
believed,  attach  the  body  of  the  Catholics  to  the  empii-e, 
a  thing  of  vital  importance ;  for  the  Prench  were  at 
this  time  everywhere  victorious  on  the  Continent,  and 
there  were  fears  of  an  invasion. 

Pitzwilliam  at  once  applied  himself  to  the  work  en- 
trusted to  him.  He  removed  Edward  Cooke  from  the  post 
of  under-secretary,  on  a  pension  of  £1200  a  year ;  and 
also  John  Beresford,  the  commissioner  of  customs,  whose 
relations  held  most  of  the  lucrative  offices  of  his  depart- 
ment, and  who  retired  on  full  pay.  Both  of  these  had 
been  identified  with  the  system  Lord  Pitzwilliam  came 
to  break  up.  In  the  joy  of  the  good  news,  parliament, 
on  the  motion  of  Grattan,  voted  £200,000  for  the 
expenses  of  the  navy  in  the  war  now  going  on  with 
Prance,  and  20,000  men  for  the  army.  The  whole 
country   was  in   a   state   of   excitement;  innumerable 


CHAP.  LXIV.]         CATHOLIC  DISAPPOINTMENT.  453 

petitions  poured  in  from  Catholics  and  Protestants  alike ; 
and  it  is  interesting  to  note  that  one  of  the  strongest 
addresses  in  favour  of  the  intended  measui-e  came  fi'om 
the  purely  Protestant  corporation  of  Derry,  the  descen- 
dants of  the  very  men  who  had  so  valiantly  defended 
the  city  a  centiuy  before  against  the  army  of  the 
Catholic  King  James. 

As  the  first  direct  move,  Grattan,  having  previously 
arranged  the  matter  with  the  viceroy,  brought  in  a  bill, 
on  the  12th  of  February,  for  the  admission  of  Catholics 
to  parliament ;  and  there  was  almost  perfect  agreement 
on  the  question  in  the  whole  house.  But  an  imexpected 
obstacle  arose  which  disconcerted  all  the  plans  for  re- 
form, and  dashed  the  hopes  of  the  country.  A  small 
mischievous  clique  at  the  Castle,  led  by  Fitzgibbon, 
Beresford,  and  Cooke,  took  determined  steps  to  defeat 
the  bill.  Beresford  went  to  England  and  had  an 
interview  with  the  king,  to  whom  he  made  bitter  com- 
plaints, while  Fitzgibbon  submitted  an  elaborate  state- 
ment to  show  that  his  majesty  could  not  consent  to 
Emancipation  without  breaking  the  coronation  oath. 
Between  them  they  seem  to  have  persuaded  the  king 
that  the  Protestant  religion  was  in  danger.  On  the 
other  hand,  it  would  appear  that  Pitt  and  the  rest  of 
the  English  Cabinet  penuitted  themselves  to  be  intimi- 
dated by  Beresford  and  Cooke. 

While  all  this  was  going  on  in  England,  Fitzwilliam 
was  allowed  to  proceed  openly  with  the  measui'e  in 
Dublin ;  and  when  the  whole  coimtiy  was  in  a  flutter 
of  expectation,  and  after  the  large  supplies  mentioned 
above  had  been  voted,  the  English  minister  turned  right 
round  ;  the  king  refused  his  consent,  without  which  no 
measure  could  pass ;  orders  were  sent  to  stop  the  bill ; 
and  the  whole  matter  came  to  an  end.     Emancipation 


454  A  child's  historv  op  Ireland,    [chap.  lxiv. 

was  abandoned,  Bcrcsford  was  restored,  and  the  old 
policy  of  hostility  to  Catholics  was  re- 
A.P.  1795  simicd.  Earl  Fitzwilliara  was  recalled  and 
left  Ireland  on  the  25th  March.  He  was 
escorted  by  sorrowing  crowds  to  the  water  side,  and  his 
coach  was  drawn  along  by  some  of  the  leading  citizens, 
while  the  shops  were  closed  and  the  city  put  on  the 
appearance  of  mourning :  mourning  and  gloom  with 
good  reason,  for  by  that  fatal  blow  the  joyous  loyalty 
of  the  whole  country  was  suddenly  changed  to  sullen 
distrust,  discontent,  and  disloyalty.  And  as  if  to  show 
in  the  clearest  way  that  the  government  approved  of 
what  had  been  done,  Fitzgibbon,  one  of  the  chief 
agents  in  bringing  about  the  withdrawal  of  the  bill, 
was  immediately  afterwards  made  earl  of  Clare.  That 
cruel  disappointment  spread  sorrow  and  indignation  all 
over  the  country,  not  only  among  the  Catholics,  but 
also  among  the  Protestants  of  the  two  parties — the 
moderates  led  by  Grattan  and  the  more  advanced  re- 
presented by  the  United  Irishmen ;  and  from  whatever 
causes  it  may  have  arisen,  it  was  in  a  great  measui'e 
answerable  for  the  tremendous  evils  that  followed. 
The  king's  objections  are  commonly  put  forward  as 
the  reason  of  the  sudden  change  of  policy.  But  some 
suppose  that  the  whole  scheme  was  planned  by  Pitt 
in  order  to  obtain  large  supplies  from  the  Irish  parlia- 
ment :  at  any  rate  it  is  certain  he  made  no  attempt 
to  bring  round  the  king  by  argument. 

Later  on  in  this  same  year,  under  Pitzwilliam's 
successor,  Lord  Camden,  a  measm^e  was  passed  of  great 
importance  to  the  Catholics  of  Ireland.  Catholic  young 
men  who  wished  to  become  priests  had  long  been  in  the 
habit  of  going  to  Prance  for  their  education,  as  they 
had  no  opportunity  of  getting  educated  at  home.     The 


CHAl:'.  L.X1V.J  CATHOJLIG  DliSAPPOINTMENl.'.  4:55 

government  were   well    aware   of  this ;    and  as   they 

feared  that  the  young  priests,  after  so  long  a  residence 

in  France,  might  come  back  imbued  with 

A.D.  1^95    republican   or  revolutionary   ideas,   they 

founded  the  college  of  Maynooth  for  the 

education  of  the  Catholic  clergy,  and  endowed  it  with 

an  annual  grant  of  £8000. 


Maynooth  College  in  1820.     From  "Cromwell's  Excursions. "   Greatly  enlarged  since. 


Ornament  on  leather  case  of  Book  of  Armagh.    From  Tetrie's  "  Round  Towers.'' 


CHAPTER  LXY. 

TO"WARDS    THE    BEINK    OF    THE    PRECIPICE. 

A.D  1795-1797. -George  III. 

LOOM  and  silence  had  marked  the  departure 
of  Lord  Fitzwilliam.  The  arrival  of  his 
successor  Lord  Camden,  on  the  31st  March 
1795,  was  signalised  by  a  fui'ious  riot  in  the 
streets  of  Dublin ;  several  houses  belonging 
to  unpopular  members  of  the  government 
were  attacked ;  the  military  had  to  be  called  out ;  and 
two  of  the  mob  were  killed.  The  people  all  over  the 
countiy  became  exasperated  and  desperate,  and  hoping 
for  foreign  aid,  their  leaders  came  to  the  fatal  determi- 
nation to  attempt  revolution  and  the  establishment  of  a 
republic.  The  United  Irishmen  banded  themselves  as  a 
secret,  oath-bound,  and  of  course  illegal,  society ;  and 
their  republican  principles  were  spreading  fast  among 
the  Catholics ;  but  the  government  were  kept  well  in- 
f  onned  of  their  proceedings,  thi'ough  Leonard  Mac  Nally 
and  others  within  their  body. 

The  great  majority  of  the  leaders  of  the  United  Irish- 
men were  Protestants,  who  were  all  for  Catholic  Eman- 
cipation. Eut  in  many  parts  of  Ulster  there  was,  all 
along,  bitter  strife  between  the  lower  classes  of  Catholics 
and  Protestants;  strife  and  mutual  hatred  which  had 


CHAP.  LXY.]  TOWAllDS  THE  PRECIPICE.  457 

been  kept  up  since  the  time  of  tlie  Plantation  nearly 
two  centnries  before.  Tone,  himself  a  Protestant,  had 
done  all  in  his  po^er  to  biing  them  to  friendly  union 
and  co-operation,  but  in  vain :  religious  animosity  was 
too  strong  for  him.  At  last,  on  the  21st  September 
1795,  the  Defenders  and  the  Peep-o'-day  boys  fought  a 
regular  battle  at  a  village  called  the  Diamond  in 
Armagh.  The  Peep-o'-day  boys,  though  inferior  in 
number,  were  better  aimed,  for  the  others  could  not 
keep  aims  unless  by  stealth,  and  the  Defenders  were 
routed  with  a  loss  of  twenty  or  thii'ty  killed. 

The  Protestants,  chiefly  of  the  Established  ChuiTh, 
next,  as  a  set-off  against  the  Defenders,  foimed  a  new 
secret  oath-bound  society  called  Orangemen,  with  the 
openly  expressed  intention  to  expel  all  Catholics  from 
Ulster :  but  it  is  to  be  obseiwed  that  the  oath  of  this 
society  was  subsequently  abolished.  The  Catholics 
were  now,  for  some  years,  attacked  and  persecuted  by 
the  Protestant  peasantry  in  many  of  the  Ulster  counties, 
and  suffered  terribly  in  person  and  property.  The  Protes- 
tant magistrates  and  gentry  held  meetings  and  endea- 
voured to  protect  them,  but  with  little  success :  yet  they 
gave  some  compensation  to  many  Catholics  whose  houses 
were  wrecked.  Great  numbers  of  inoffensive  industrious 
Catholics  were  driven  altogether  out  of  the  province, 
and  took  refuge  in  Connaught,  which  circumstance 
again  extended  the  mischief:  for  they  inspired  the 
people  among  whom  they  settled  with  theii'  own  bitter 
feelings.  Things  became  at  last  so  intolerable  that 
general  Craddock  was  sent  into  Ulster  with  the  militaiy 
to  restore  order  :  but  so  close  a  watch  was  kept  on  his 
movements,  that  he  found  it  almost  impossible  to  arrest 
the  bands  of  anned  Orangemen  :  and  the  evil  work  still 
went  on.    The  more  respectable  members  of  the  Orange 


458  A  child's  history  of  Ireland,    [chap.  lxv. 

body  dissociated  themselves  from  these  proceedings,  and 
declared  that  the  worst  of  the  outrages  were  committed 
by  bodies  of  marauders  who,  though  adopting  the  name, 
were  not  Orangemen  at  all. 

The  Defenders  had  spread  rapidly  from  Ulster  into 
various  parts  of  the  middle  and  west  of  Ireland :  and 
now,  like  the  Whiteboys,  they  applied  themselves  to 
redi'essing  grievances  of  various  kinds ;  and  there  were 
continual  nightly  disturbances,  so  that  people's  minds 
all  over  the  countiy  were  kept  in  a  state  of  painful 
anxiety.  General  Henry  Luttrell,  Lord  Carhampton, 
was  sent  to  Connaught  to  repress  them  :  but  his  action 
and  the  action  of  those  who  aided  him  held  up  an  evil 
example  to  the  people,  for  it  was  almost  as  lawless  as 
the  proceedings  of  the  Defenders  themselves.  He  seized 
all  who  were  in  the  jails  awaiting  trial,  and  the 
magistrates,  imitating  him,  arrested  nimibers  of  the 
peasants  on  the  road  sides  :  and  all,  both  prisoners  and 
peasants,  were,  without  any  trial,  sent  o&.  to  serve  in  the 
navy.  Most  of  these  men  never  saw  their  families 
again :  and  the  transaction  rankled  fearfully  among  the 
people. 

Meantime  the  society  of  United  Irishmen  spread, 
until  finally  it  numbered  500,000.  There  were  now 
many  Catholics  among  them,  for  the  Defenders,  on  the 
invitation  of  the  United  Irish  leaders,  joined  the  ranks 
in  large  numbers.  But  to  the  last  the  confederacy 
was  mainly  Protestant;  and  the  members  were  far 
more  numerous  and  active  in  Ulster  than  elsewhere. 
In  1795  Lord  Edward  Fitzgerald,  a  man  of  most 
estimable  character,  brother  of  the  duke  of  Leinster. 
joined  them.  As  a  major  in  the  British  anuy  he  had 
served  with  credit  in  the  American  War ;  and  on  his 
return  he  entered  the  Irish  parliament  as  an  earnest 


CHAP.  LXV.]  TOWARDS  THE  tRECIPICE.  459 

supporter  of  RefoiTQ.  The  governinent  dismissed  him 
fi'om  his  post  in  the  army  for  openly  expressing  sympathy 
with  the  French  revolution.  In  the  end  of  1796  the 
society  was  joined  by  Thomas  Addis  Emmet  elder 
brother  of  Eobert  Emmet,  by  Arthur  O'Connor  formerly 
member  of  parliament  for  Philipstown,  and  by  Dr. 
William  J.  MacNevin  of  Dublin,  one  of  the  few 
Catholics  among  the  leaders. 

Tone,  who  had  been  obliged  to  leave  Ireland  some 
time  before,  had  been  arranging  in  Paris  for  a  French 
invasion,  the  object  of  which  was  to  make  Ireland  an 
independent  republic.  In  May  1796  Lord  Edward 
Fitzgerald  and  Arthur  O'Connor  went  to  Hamburg,  and 
O'Connor  had  an  interview  with  general  Hoche.  The 
matter  was  at  last  arranged.  On  the  15th  of  December 
a  fleet  of  43  ships  of  war  with   15,000 

A.D,  1796  troops  and  45,000  stand  of  anns,  sailed 
from  Brest  for  Ireland  under  general 
Hoche.  General  Grouchy  was  second  in  command,  and 
with  him  sailed  Theobald  Wolfe  Tone  as  adjutant- 
general.  The  authorities  were  badly  prepared  to  repel 
the  attack,  but  it  was  repelled  without  their  interven- 
tion. The  ships  were  dispersed  by  foul  winds  and  fogs, 
and  only  sixteen  that  had  kept  together  entered  Bantry 
Bay.  Here  they  waited  in  vain  for  general  Hoche, 
whose  vessel  had  been  separated  from  the  fleet  by  the 
storm.  But  the  wild  weather  continued — tempest  and 
snow — and  at  the  end  of  a  week,  Hoche  not  having 
come  up,  they  cut  their  cables  and  returned  to  France. 

Next  came  a  stringent  InsiuTection  act.  The  Habeas 
Corpus  act  was  suspended,  which  suspension  gave  the 
magistrates  the  power  to  arrest  any  one  they  pleased. 
General  Lake  got  command  of  the  army  in  Ulster,  and 
he  proclaimed  martial  law,  which  placed  the  people 


4G0  A  child's  iustoky  of  ikkland.    [chap,  lxv 

entirely  at  the  mercy  of  the  military.  He  arrested 
two  committees  of  United  Irishmen  sitting  in  Belfast, 
and  seized  their  papers,  which  disclosed  secrets  of  great 
importance ;  and  he  attempted  to  disai-m  all  Ulster, 
seizing  great  numbers  of  muskets,  cannons,  and  pikes. 
But  he  did  not  succeed  in  taking  all :  in  a  little  time 
not  a  gun  or  a  pike  was  to  be  foimd  in  any  house  ;  for 
they  were  hidden  in  bogs  and  hedges  where  the  owners 
could  find  them  at  any  moment.  For  publishing  a 
violent  address,  Arthur  O'Connor  was  arrested  and 
imprisoned  in  Dublin  :  and  the  jails  all  over  the  country 
were  filled  with  people  who  had  been  taken  up  on 
suspicion  on  the  evidence  of  spies. 

The  yeomaniy  were  called  out ;  militia  regiments 
were  sent  over  fi'om  England ;  and  militaiy,  yeomaniy, 
and  militia  were  let  loose  on  the  people  with  little  or 
no  restraint.  The  soldiers  were  scattered  through  the 
country  in  small  parties,  billeted  and  living  in  fi-ee 
quarters  on  the  peasantry ;  there  was  no  discipline ; 
and  they  did  what  they  pleased  without  waiting  for 
orders.  Fearful  brutalities  were  pei-petrated,  and 
thousands  of  peaceable  people  were  driven  in  despera- 
tion to  join  the  ranks  of  the  United  Irishmen. 

For  a  good  part  of  1797,  Ulster  was  really  in 
rebellion,  though  no  battles  were  fought :  the  United 
Irishmen  spread  eveiywhere,  and  practically  had  the 
whole  province  in  subjection.  Some,  calling  themselves 
by  the  name,  committed  many  terrible  outrages;  but 
the  perpetrators  of  these  were  individuals  and  small 
parties  under  no  control ;  and  they  were  denounced  by 
the  responsible  United  Irish  leaders ;  just  as  the  evil- 
doers on  the  other  side  were  denounced  by  the  leaders 
of  the  Orange  party.  AVhat  greatly  added  to  the  horror 
of  the  situation  in  the  Korth  was  the  bitter  animosity 


CHAP.  LXV.]  TOWARDS  THE  PRECIPICE.  461 

between  the  lower  classes  of  Protestants  and  Catholics, 
each  side  committing  frightful  cruelties  on  the  others 
at  every  opportunity.  Duiing  the  whole  of  this  time 
assui'ances  came  fi'om  respectable  classes  of  people  all 
over  the  country,  especially  from  Ulster,  that  the  con- 
cession of  Parliamentaiy  Keform,  Catholic  Emancipa- 
tion, and  a  satisfactory  arrangement  about  tithes  would 
restore  quietness.  In  the  month  of  May,  Ponsonby  and 
Grattan  brought  these  matters  before  parliament,  and 
Grattan  produced  a  declaration  of  900  representative 
Ulstennen  of  substance  and  position,  a  large  proportion 
of  them  leading  United  Irishmen,  that  if  these  conces- 
sions were  granted  all  agitation  would  cease.  But 
though  they  earnestly  urged  the  adoption  of  these 
reasonable  healing  measui'es,  the  government  voted 
them  down  four  to  one.  Whereupon  Grattan  and  the 
other  leading  members  of  his  party  despairing  of  doing 
any  good,  and  as  a  protest  against  the  conduct  of  the 
government,  withdi'ew  fi'om  parliament. 

There  was  yet  another  abortive  attempt  at  invasion. 

A  Dutch  fleet  with  15,000  men  commanded 
A.D.  Iff  Off    by  admiral  De  Winter  prepared  to  sail  for 

Ireland  in  July,  but  again  the  weather 
interfered;  they  were  delayed;  and  when  at  length 
they  sailed,  the  fleet  was  utterly  defeated  at  Camper- 
down  by  admiral  Duncan. 


CHAPTER  LXYI. 


rilE    REBELLION    OF    1798. 


A.D.  1798.— George  m. 


ELiEviNG  it  impossible  to  bring  about  re- 
form of  any  kind  by  peaceable  means, 
tbe  United  Irish  leaders,  in  an  evil 
hour,  determined  on  open  rebellion ;  but  the  govern- 
ment were  kept  well  informed  by  spies  of  their  secret 
proceedings,  and  bided  their  time  till  things  were  ripe 
for  a  swoop.  Tbey  knew  that  the  23rd  of  May  had 
been  fixed  as  the  day  of  rising.  On  the  12th  of  March 
1798,  major  Swan,  a  magistrate,  acting  on  the  informa- 
tion of  Thomas  Eeynolds,  an-ested  Oliver  Eond  and 
fourteen  other  delegates  assembled  in  Bond's  house  in 


CHAP.  LXVI.]  THE  REBELLION  OF   1798.  463 

Bridge-street,  Dublin,  arranging  tlie  plan  of  rebellion, 
and  seized  all  their  papers.  On  the  same  day  several 
other  leaders  were  arrested  in  their  homes. 

A  reward  of  £1000  was  offered  for  the  apprehension 
of  Lord  Edward  Fitzgerald,  the  moving  spirit  of  the 
confederacy.  After  some  time  the  authorities  received 
infonnation  from  Francis  Higgins — commonly  known 
as  the  "Sham  Squire" — that  he  was  concealed  in  the 
house  of  Mcholas  Murphy,  a  feather  merchant  of 
Thomas-street,  Dublin.  Lord  Edward  was  lying  ill  in 
bed,  when  major  Swan,  yeomanry  captain  Eyan,  and  a 
soldier,  entered  the  room ;  but  he  drew  a  dagger  and 
struggled  desperately,  wounding  Swan  and  Eyan. 
Major  SiiT,  who  had  accompanied  the  party,  now 
rushed  in  with  half-a-dozen  soldiers,  and  taking  aim, 
shot  Lord  Edward  in  the  shoulder,  who  was  then  over- 
powered and  taken  prisoner.  Eut  on  the  4th  of  June 
he  died  of  his  wound  while  in  prison,  at  the  age  of 
thirty-two.  On  the  21st  May  two  brothers  Henry  and 
John  Sheares,  barristers,  members  of  the  Dublin  direc- 
toiy  of  the  United  Irishmen,  were  arrested.  They  were 
convicted  on  the  12th  of  July,  and  hanged  two  days 
afterwards.  A  reprieve  for  Henry  came  too  late — five 
minutes  after  the  execution. 

The  rising  took  place  on  the  24th  of  May.  It  was 
only  partial :  confined  chiefly  to  the  counties  of  Kil- 
dare,  Wicklow,  and  Wexford ;  and  there  were  some 
slight  attempts  in  Caiiow,  Queen's  Co.,  Meath,  and 
county  Dublin.  But  Dublin  city  did  not  rise,  for  it 
had  been  placed  under  martial  law,  and  almost  the 
whole  of  the  leaders  there  had  been  arrested.  The  in- 
sun-ection  was  quite  premature ;  and  the  people  were 
almost  without  anns,  without  discipline,  plan,  or 
leaders.    On  the  26th  of  May  a  body  of  4000  insui'gents 


464  A  child's  history  of  IRELAND.      [CHAP.  LXVI. 

were  defeated  on  tlie  hill  of  Tara.  On  AVhitsunday 
the  27th,  the  rising  broke  out  in  Wexford.  There,  as 
well  as  in  some  of  the  neighbouring  counties,  the  rebel- 
lion assumed  a  sectarian  character  which  it  had  not 
elsewhere  :  the  rebels  were  nearly  all  Roman  Catholics, 
though  many  of  their  leaders  were  Protestants.  This 
Wexford  rising  was  not  the  result  of  premeditation  or 
of  any  concert  with  the  Dublin  directory  of  the  United 
Irishmen  ;  for  the  society  had  not  made  much  headway 
aniong  the  quiet  industrious  peasants  of  that  county, 
who  were  chiefly  descendants  of  English  colonists. 
Though  there  was  a  good  deal  of  disaffection  among 
them,  chiefly  caused  by  alarming  rumours  of  intended 
massacres,  they  did*  not  want  to  rise.  They  were  driven 
to  rebellion  simply  by  the  terrible  barbarities  of  the 
military,  the  yeomen,  and  more  especially  the  North 
Cork  militia ;  they  rose  in  desperation  without  any  plan 
or  any  idea  of  what  they  were  to  do ;  and  in  their 
vengeful  fury  they  committed  many  terrible  outrages 
on  the  Protestant  loyalist  inhabitants,  in  blind  retalia- 
tion for  the  far  worse  excesses  of  the  militia. 

Father  John  Murphy,  parish  priest  of  Kilcormick 
near  Perns,  finding  his  little  chapel  of  Boleyvogue 
burned  by  the  yeomen,  took  the  lead  of  the  rebels,  with 
another  priest,  Pather  Michael  Mui'phy,  whose  chapel 
had  also  been  burned ;  but  although  these  and  one  or 
two  other  priests  were  among  the  insurgents  of  Mnety- 
eight,the  Catholic  ecclesiastical  authorities  were  entirely 
opposed  to  the  rebellion.  On  the  27th  of  May  the 
peasantry,  led  by  Pather  John  Murphy,  defeated  and 
annihilated  a  large  party  of  the  !N'orth  Cork  militia  on 
the  Hill  of  Oulart,  near  Enniscorthy.  Having  captured 
800  stand  of  arms,  they  marched  next  on  Enniscorthy ; 
and  by  the  stratagem  of  driving  a  herd  of  bullocks 


CHAP.  LXVI.]  THE  EEBELLION  OF  1798.  465 

before  them  to  break  the  ranks  of  the  military,  they 
took  the  town  after  a  struggle  of  four  hours  ;  on  which 
the  garrison  and  the  Protestant  inhabitants  fled  to 
Wexford — fifteen  miles  off.  About  the  same  time 
Gorey  was  abandoned  by  its  garrison,  who  retreated 
to  Arklow. 

At  the  end  of  May  the  insurgents  fixed  their  chief 
encampment  on  Vinegar  Hill,  an  eminence  rising  over 
Enniscorthy,  at  the  opposite  side  of  the  Slaney.  While 
the  camp  lay  here,  a  number  of  Protestants,  brought  in 
from  the  surrounding  country,  were  confined  in  an  old 
windmill  on  the  summit  of  the  hill,  many  of  whom, 
after  being  subjected  day  by  day  to  some  sort  of  trial, 
were  put  to  death.  On  the  30th  of  May  a  detachment 
of  military  was  attacked  and  destroyed  at  the  Three 
Eocks,  foiu'  miles  fi-om  the  town  of  Wexford.  The 
insurgents  now  advanced  towards  AYexford :  but  the 
garrison,  consisting  chiefly  of  the  IN'orth  Cork  militia, 
did  not  wait  to  be  attacked  :  they  marched  away  ;  and 
while  retreating  they  burned  and  pillaged  the  houses 
and  shot  the  peasantry  wherever  they  met  them.  The 
exultant  rebels  having  taken  possession  of  Wexford, 
drank  and  feasted  and  plundered ;  but  beyond  this 
there  was  little  outrage :  with  one  notable  exception. 
While  they  occupied  the  town,  a  fellow  named  Dixon 
on  the  rebel  side,  the  captain  of  a  small  coasting  vessel, 
who  had  never  taken  any  part  in  the  real  fighting — one 
of  those  cruel  cowardly  natiu'es  sure  to  turn  up  on  such 
occasions — collected  a  rabble,  not  of  the  townspeople,  but 
of  others  who  were  there  fi'om  the  surrounding  districts, 
and  plying  them  with  whiskey,  broke  open  the  jail  where 
many  of  the  Protestant  gentry  and  others  were  confined. 
In  spite  of  the  expostulations  of  the  more  respectable 
leaders,  the  mob  brought  a  number  of  the  prisoners 
2h 


•1()G  A  child's  HISTOllY  OF  IRELAND.      [CIIAP.  LXVI. 

to  the  bridge,  and  after  a  mock  trial  began  to  kill  them 
one  by  one.      A  number,  variously  stated  from  forty 
to  ninety,  had  been  murdered,  and  another  batch  were 
brought  out,  when,  according  to  contemporaiy  accounts, 
a  young  i)riest,  Father  Corrin,  retiu'ning  from  some  paro- 
chial duties,  and  seeing  how  things  stood,  rushed  in  at 
the  risk  of  his  life  and  commanded  the  executioners  to 
their  knees.     Down  they  knelt  instinctively,  when  in  a 
loud  voice  he  dictated  a  prayer  which  they  repeated 
after  him — that  God  might  show  to  them  the  same  mercy 
that  they  were  about  to  show  to  the  prisoners ;  which  so 
awed  and  temfied  them  that  they  immediately  stopped 
the    executions.       Forty    years    afterwards.     Captain 
Kellett  of  Clonard  near  AYexford,  one  of  the  Protestant 
gentlemen  he  had  saved,   followed,   with  sorrow  and 
reverence,  the  remains  of  that  good  priest  to  the  grave. 
Dixon  probably  escaped  aiTest,  for  he  is  not  heard  of 
again.   All  this  time  the  Protestants  of  the  town  were  in 
terror  of  their  lives,  and  a  great  many  of  them  sought 
and  obtained  the  protection  of  the  Catholic  priests,  who 
everywhere  exerted  themselves,  and  with   success,  to 
prevent    outrage.       A    Protestant    gentleman    named 
Bagenal  Harvey  who  had  been  seized  by  government  on 
suspicion  and  imprisoned  in  Wexford  jail,  was  released 
by  the  insurgent  peasantry  and  made  their  general. 

Besides  the  principal  encampment  on  Yinegar  Hill, 
the  rebels  had  two  others  ;  one  on  Carrickbyme  Hill, 
between  I^ew  Eoss  and  Wexford  :  the  other  on  Camgroe 
Hill,  near  Ferns.  From  Carrigi'oe,  on  the  1st  June,  a 
large  body  of  them  marched  on  Gorey  :  but  they  were 
routed  just  as  they  approached  the  town,  by  a  party 
of  yeomen  under  lieutenant  Elliott.  They  fared  better 
however  in  the  next  encounter.  General  Loftus  with 
1500   men   marched   from  Gorey  in  two    divisions  to 


CHAP.  LXVI.J  THE  REBELLION  OF  1798.  467 

attack  Camgi'oe.  One  of  these  under  colonel  "W^alpole 
was  siu'prised  on  the  4th  June  at  Toberanierin  near 
Gorey  and  defeated  with  great  loss ;  Walpole  himself 
being  killed  and  three  cannons  left  with  the  insui'gents. 
This  placed  Gorey  in  their  hands. 

From  Vinegar  Hill  they  marched  on  I^ewtownbarry, 
on  the  2nd  of  June  and  took  the  town  :  but  dispersing 
to  drink  and  to  plunder,  they  were  attacked  in  turn 
by  the  soldiers  whom  they  had  driven  out,  and  routed 
with  a  loss  of  400.  The  same  thing,  but  on  a  much 
larger  scale,  happened  at  J^ew  Eoss,  on  the  5th  of 
June.  The  rebels  marched  from  Carrickbp'ne,  and 
attacking  the  town  with  great  braveiy  in  the  early 
morning,  di^ove  the  military  under  general  Johnson  from 
the  streets  out  over  the  bridge.  But  there  was  no  dis- 
cipline :  they  fell  to  cbink ;  and  the  soldiers  returned 
twice  and  were  twice  repulsed.  Eut  still  the  drinking 
went  on  ;  and  late  in  the  evening  the  militaiy  returned 
once  more,  and  this  time  succeeded  in  expelling  the 
rebels.  The  fighting  had  continued  with  little  inter- 
mission for  ten  houi's,  during  which  the  troops  lost  300 
killed,  among  whom  was  Lord  Mount]  oy,  colonel  of  the 
Dublin  militia,  better  known  in  this  book  as  Luke 
Gardiner  (p.  419) ;  while  the  loss  of  the  peasantry  was 
two  or  three  thousand.  Although  the  rebels  ultimately 
lost  the  day  at  Xew  Ross,  through  drink  and  disorder, 
the  conspicuous  bravery  and  determination  they  had 
shown  caused  gi'eat  apprehension  among  the  authorities 
in  Dublin,  and  produced  a  feeling  of  grave  doubt  as  to 
the  ultimate  result  in  case  the  rebellion  should  spread. 

In  the  evening  of  the  day  of  the  battle  of  IS'ew  Eoss, 

5ome  fugitive  rebels  from  the  town  broke  into  Sculla- 

bogue  House  at  the  foot  of  Carrickbp-ne  Hill,  where  a 

^rowd  of  loyalist  prisoners,  nearly  all  Protestants,  but 

2h2 


468  A  child's  history  of  Ireland,    [chap.  lxvi. 

with  some  few  Catholics,  were  confined,  and  pretending 
they  had  orders  from  Harvey,  which  they  had  not, 
brought  forth  thirty- seven  of  the  prisoners  and  mur- 
dered them.  Then  setting  fire  to  a  barn  in  which  the 
others  were  locked  up — between  one  and  two  hundred 
— they  burned  them  all  to  death.  No  recognised  leader 
was  present  at  this  barbarous  massacre  :  it  was  the 
work  of  an  irresponsible  rabble. 

The  rebels  now  prepared  to  march  on  Dublin  ;  but 
major-general  IS'eedham  with  1600  men  garrisoned 
Arklow  on  the  coast,  thi'ough  which  the  insurgent  army 
would  have  to  pass.  On  the  9th  of  June  they  attacked 
the  town  with  great  determination,  and  there  was  a 
desperate  fight,  in  which  the  cavaliy  were  at  first 
driven  back  ;  so  that  JS'eedham  would  have  retreated 
but  for  the  bravery  and  finnness  of  one  of  his  officers, 
colonel  Skerrett.  Late  in  the  evening,  the  death  of 
Father  Michael  Murphy,  who  was  killed  by  a  cannon 
ball,  so  disheartened  his  men  that  they  gave  way  and 
abandoned  the  march  to  Dublin. 

The  encampment  on  Yinegar  Hill  was  now  the  chief 
rebel  station,  and  general  Lake,  the  commander  in  chief 
of  the  military,  organised  an  attack  on  it  with  20,000 
men,  who  were  to  approach  simultaneously  in  several 
divisions  from  different  points.  All  the  divisions 
arrived  in  proper  time  on  the  morning  of  the  21st  of 
Jime,  except  that  of  general  I^eedham,  which  for  some 
reason  did  not  come  up  till  the  fighting  was  all  over.  A 
heavy  fire  of  grape  and  musketry  did  great  execution  on 
the  insui^gent  army,  who  though  almost  without  ammu- 
nition, maintained  the  fight  for  an  hour  and  a-half, 
when  they  had  to  give  way.  The  space  intended  for 
general  Needham's  division  lay  open  to  the  south,  and 
through  this  opening — '^I^eedham's  Gap    as  they  called 


CHAP.  LXVI.]  THE  REBELLION  OF   1798.  469 

it — they  escaped  with  comparatively  trifling  loss,  and 
made  their  way  to  Wexford. 

This  was  the  last  considerable  action  of  the  Wexford 
rebellion :  in  face  of  the  overwhelming  odds  against 
them  the  rebels  lost  heart  and  there  was  veiy  little 
more  fighting.  Wexford  was  evacuated  and  was  at 
once  occupied  by  general  Lake.  Many  of  the  leaders 
were  now  arrested,  tried  by  court-martial,  and  hanged, 
among  them  Bagenal  Harvey,  Mr.  Grogan  of  Johnstown, 
Matthew  Keogh,  and  Father  John  Mm-phy,  though  Lake 
had  been  made  aware  that  several  of  them  had  success- 
fully exerted  themselves  to  prevent  outrage.  The 
rebellion  here  was  practically  at  an  end ;  and  the  whole 
country  was  now  at  the  mercy  of  the  yeomanry  and  the 
militia,  who,  without  any  attempt  being  made  to  stop 
them  by  their  leaders,  perpetrated  dreadful  atrocities 
on  the  peasantiy.  They  made  hardly  any  distinction, 
killing  every  one  they  met :  guilty  and  innocent,  rebel 
and  loyalist,  men  and  women,  all  alike  were  consigned 
to  the  same  fate;  while  on  the  other  side,  straggling 
bands  of  rebels  traversed  the  coimtry  free  of  all  re- 
straint, and  committed  many  outrages  in  retaliation  for 
those  of  the  yeomamy.  Within  about  two  years,  while 
the  distui'bances  continued,  sixty-five  Catholic  chapels 
and  one  Protestant  chiu'ch  were  burned  or  destroyed 
in  Leinster,  besides  coimtless  dwelling-houses. 

By  some  misunderstanding  the  outbreak  of  the  rebel- 
lion in  the  north  was  delayed.  The  Antrim  insurgents 
under  Heniy  Joy  M'Cracken  attacked  and  took  the 
town  of  Antrim  on  the  7th  June ;  but  the  military  re- 
turning with  reinforcements,  recovered  the  town  after  a 
stubborn  fight.  M'Cracken  was  taken  and  hanged  on 
the  17th  of  the  same  month.  In  Down  the  rebels, 
under  Henry  Munro,  captui-ed  Saintfield,  and  encamped 


470  A  child's  history  of  IRELAND.     [CHAP.  LXVI. 

iu  Lord  Moira's  demesne  near  Ballynahinch ;  but  on 
the  14th  of  Jnne  they  were  attacked  by  generals  JS'ugent 
and  Barber,  and  defeated  after  a  very  obstinate  fight — 
commonly  known  as  the  battle  of  Ballynahinch.  Munro 
escaped,  but  was  soon  after  captured,  con^ncted  in 
court-martial,  and  hanged  at  his  own  door. 

Lord  Cornwallis,  a  humane  and  distinguished  man, 
was  appointed  lord  lieutenant  on  the  21st  of  June,  with 
supreme  military  command.  He  endeavoured  to  restore 
quiet ;  and  his  first  step  was  an  attempt  to  stop  the 
dreadfiJ  cruelties  now  committed  by  the  soldiers  and 
militia  all  over  the  country  :  but  in  spite  of  everything 
he  could  do  these  outrages  continued  for  several  months. 
Had  he  been  in  command  from  the  beginning,  instead 
of  the  harsh  and  injudicious  general  Lake,  it  is  probable 
that  the  rebellion  would  have  been  suppressed  with  not 
a  tithe  of  the  bloodshed  on  either  side. 

After  the  rebellion  had  been  crushed,  a  small  French 
force  of  about  a  thousand  men  under  general  Humbert 
landed  at  Killala  in  Mayo  on  the  22nd  of  August  1798, 
and  took  possession  of  the  town.  Two  Irishmen 
accompanied  Humbert,  Bartholomew  Teeling  and 
Matthew  Tone,  brother  of  Theobald  Wolfe  Tone. 
But  as  there  was  no  sign  of  a  popular  rising,  this  little 
force,  having  first  defeated  the  militia,  and  after  some 
further  skirmishing  against  vastly  superior  numbers, 
surrendered  to  Lord  Cornwallis,  and  were  sent  back  to 
France,  all  except  Tone  and  Teeling,  who  were  tried 
and  hanged.  This  partial  expedition  was  followed  by 
another  under  admiral  Bompart : — One  74  gun  ship 
named  the  "  Hoche,"  with  eight  frigates  and  3000  men 
under  general  Hardi,  among  whom  was  Theobald  Wolfe 
Tone,  sailed  fi'om  Brest  on  the  20th  of  September.  The 
"Hoche"  and  three  others  amved  off  Lough  Swilly, 


CHAP.  LXVI 


THE  REBELLION  OF  1798. 


471 


where  they  were  encountered  by  a  British  squadron 
under  Sir  John  Borlase  Warren.  There  was  a  terrible 
fight  of  six  hours,  during  which  the  "Hoche"  sustained 
the  chief  force  of  the  attack  till  she  became  a  helpless 


John  Philpot  Curran.    From  an  Engraving  by  S.  Freeman  :  and  that  from 
original  portrait. 

wreck  and  had  to  siuTender.  Tone  fought  with  despera- 
tion: courting  but  escaping  death.  After  the  suiTender, 
he  was  recognised  and  sent  in  irons  to  Dublin,  where  he 
was  tried  by  courtmartial  and  condemned  to  be  hanged. 


472 


A  child's  history  of  IRELAND.      [cHAP.  LXVII. 


He  earnestly  begged  to  be  shot,  not  hanged,  on  the  plea 
that  he  was  a  French  officer ;  but  his  petition  was 
rejected.  On  the  morning  fixed  for  the  execution  he 
cut  his  throat  with  a  penknife.  Meantime  Curran  in 
a  masterly  speech,  succeeded  on  legal  grounds  in  staying 
the  execution  for  further  argument ;  but  Tone  died  from 
his  self-inflicted  wound  on  the  19th  of  November,  1798. 
In  the  numerous  trials  during  and  after  the  rebellion, 
CuiTan  was  always  engaged  on  the  side  of  the  prisoners ; 
and  though  he  did  not  often  succeed  in  ha\'ing  them 
released,  his  brilliant  and  fearless  speeches  were  won- 
derful efforts  of  genius. 


CHAPT'ER    LXVII. 


THE    UNION. 
A.D.  1799-1803.— George  III. 

THE  opinion  of  the  English  prime  minister 
William  Pitt,  the  course  of  events  for 
the  last  few  years  in  H-eland  had  ren- 
dered the  time  opportune  for  his  long 
cherished  project  of  a  Legislative  Union 
between  Great  Britain  and  Ireland :— that 
the  Irish  parliament  should  be  abolished, 
and  that  there  should  be  only  one  parlia- 
ment for  both  countries.  It  was  on  all  hands  admitted 
that  this  could  not  be  accomplished  unless  the  Irish 
parliament  willed  it ;  and  now  that  the  rebellion  was  all 
over,  he  began  to  make  carefully  planned  aiTangements 
to  secure  a  majority  in  favour'  of  the  Union :  for  he  well 


CHAP.  LXVII.]  THE  UNION.  473 

knew  that  there  would  be  detennined  opposition  in  Ire- 
land. On  the  22nd  January,  the  marquis  of 
A.D.  1*99  Comwallis  being  lord  lieutenant  and  Lord 
Castlereagh  chief  secretary,  the  project  of 
Union  was,  by  Pitt's  direction,  indirectly  refeiTed  to  in 
the  Irish  parliament,  in  the  speech  from  the  throne  ;  but 
the  opposition  at  once  took  the  matter  up,  and  they  were 
joined  by  many  who  had  hitherto  been  supporters  of 
the  goyemment,  among  others  John  Foster  the  speaker, 
Sir  John  Parnell  chancellor  of  the  exchequer,  Prime 
sergeant  Fitzgerald,  and  Sir  Jonah  Barrington  :  all  fear- 
ing the  loss  of  their  parliament.  They  moved  "  that  the 
undoubted  birthright  of  the  people  of  Ireland,  a  resident 
and  independent  legislature,  should  be  maintained  "  ;  and 
after  an  excited  debate  of  twenty-two  hours,  the  votes 
were  equally  divided,  which  was  considered  a  defeat  for 
the  government.  Subsequently  the  opposition  succeeded 
in  having  the  clause  referring  to  the  Union  altogether 
struck  out  of  the  speech :  which  meant  that  they  re- 
fused even  to  consider  the  question.  Parnell  and  Fitz- 
gerald were  soon  afterwards  dismissed  from  their  offices. 
It  is  to  be  observed  that  in  these  divisions  nearly  all  ***•  uj 
those  who  voted  for  Union  were  office-holders  or  pen- 
sioners of  the  government ;  while  the  great  majority  of 
those  who  voted  against  it  were  persons  who  had  been 
freely  elected. 

In  February  the  scheme  was  brought  forward  in  the 
English  parliament  by  Pitt,  and  apxn'oved.  In  Ireland 
elaborate  preparations  were  made  to  cany  it  in  the  next 
session.  Persons  holding  offices  who  showed  themselves 
adverse  to  the  measure  were  dismissed,  or  brought 
round  by  threats  of  dismissal.  The  Irish  government, 
as  we  have  seen,  had  been  all  along  corrupt ;  but  now — 
still  imder  outside  orders — it  went  far  beyond  anything 


474  A  child's  history  of  Ireland,    [chap,  lxvii. 

/ever  experienced  before.  Those  who  had  the  disposal 
of  seats  (p.  435)  were  in  gi'eat  alaim ;  for  if  the  Union 
was  earned  the  300  members  would  have  to  be  reduced 
to  a  third,  so  that  about  200  constituencies  would  be 
disfranchised.  The  opposition  of  these  proprietors  was 
bought  off  by  direct  money  payments ;  about  £15,000 
was  paid  for  each  seat ;  and  several  proprietors  who 
had  each  a  number  of  seats  at  their  disposal,  received 
^<-s  ^very  large  sums.  The  entire  amount  paid  for  the 
^-^  whole  of  the  "rotten"  or  "pocket"  boroughs  as  they 
were  called,  was  £1,260,000,  which  Ireland  itseK 
had  to  pay,  for  it  was  added  to  the  Irish  national 
debt. 

To  purchase  the  votes  of  individual  members,  and  the 
favour  of  certain  influential  outsiders,  twenty-eight 
persons  were  created  peers,  and  thirty-two  of  those 
akeady  peers  were  promoted ;  and  there  were  besides, 
gi-eat  numbers  of  bribes  in  the  shape  of  pensions,  judge- 
ships, baronetcies,  preferments,  government  situations, 
and  direct  cash.  AU  this  was  done  with  scarcely  an 
^attempt  at  concealment.  The  chief  managers  of  the 
whole  business,  imder  the  inspiration  of  Pitt,  were  Lord 
Cornwallis,  Lord  Castlereagh,  and  Lord  Clare  (John 
Fitzgibbon) ;  but  Cornwallis,  though  quite  in  favour'  of 
the  measure,  expressed  the  utmost  abhon^ence  at  being 
forced  to  take  a  part  in  such  transactions.  So  general 
was  the  feeling  against  the  Union,  and  so  deep  was  the 
indignation  against  the  means  employed  to  bring  it 
about,  that  he  expressed  his  belief  that  half  the  majority 
who  voted  for  it  would  be  delighted  if  they  were  de- 
feated :  yet  he  held  on  to  his  post  till  the  measure 
was  carried  through.  But  though  the  majority  in 
favour  of  Union  was  secured  by  gi'oss  and  illegal  cor- 
ruption, it  must  not  be  imagined  that  all  who  voted  for 


CHAP.  LXVII.]  THE  UNION.  475 

it  were   corrupt ;   for  there  were   some — though,  not 
many — who  honestly  believed  it  was  the  best  course. 

The  coimtiy  was  now  thoroughly  roused :  so  that  hun- 
dreds of  petitions  against  Union  came  from  all  directions, 
and  there  was  such  exasperation  eveiywhere,  that  dan- 
gerous riots  were  apprehended.  The  intense  feeling 
against  it  extended  even  to  the  yeomanry,  the  very  men 
who  had  taken  such  a  prominent  part  in  putting  down  the 
rebellion ;  and  it  was  feared  that  they  might  turn  out  to 
resist  it  with  arms  in  their  hands.  But  the  prime  movers 
were  determined  :  and  in  order  to  keep  down  the  free 
expression  of  opinion,  English  soldiers  were  poured  in 
by  the  thousand,  so  that  the  country  was  now  occupied 

by  an  immense  army.     The  session  opened 
A.D.  1800    on  the  15th  of  January  :  the  last  meeting 

of  the  Irish  pai'liament.  Grattan,  knowing 
what  was  coming,  had  himseK  elected  member  for 
Wicklow ;  and  though  very  ill,  he  rose  from  his  bed  and 
took  his  seat  di'essed  in  the  uniform  of  the  volunteers. 
Dublin  was  in  a  state  of  fearful  excitement.  The  streets 
were  filled  with  dismayed  and  sorrow- stricken  crowds  ; 
but  there  were  plenty  of  cavalry  to  keep  them  within 
bounds.  Lord  Castlereagh  brought  forward  the  motion 
in  the  commons.  The  anti-unionists  opposed  the  project 
most  determinedly;  Grattan,  worn  with  sickness,  pleaded 
with  all  his  old  fieiy  eloquence.  Sir  John  Parnell  de- 
manded that  there  should  be  a  dissolution,  and  that  a 
new  pai'liament  should  be  called  to  determine  this  great 
question,  so  that  the  opinion  of  the  country  might  be 
obtained,  as  is  usually  done  when  measures  of  great 
importance  are  proposed  ;  but  the  unionist  leaders  carried 
everything.  There  were  many  motions :  on  the  first  the 
government  had  158  against  115:  and  in  the  others  there 
were  corresponding  majorities ;  but  the  minority,  who 


476  A  child's  ITTSTORY  of  IRELAND.      [cHAP.  LXVII. 

could  not  bo  bought  over  by  bribes,  stood  firm  and 
struggled  vainly  to  the  last.  Despite  all  their  efforts 
the  bill  was  finally  carried  in  the  commons.  It  was  next 
passed  in  the  house  of  lords,  by  a  majority  of  nearly 
three  to  one,  after  which  the  royal  assent  was  given  on 
the  1st  August,  and  the  Act  came  into  force  on  the  1st 
Januai-v  1801. 


Parliament  House,  Dublin  :  now  the  Bank  of  Ireland.    From  Wright's 
"  Ireland  Illustrated."    Drawn  by  Petrie. 

The  main  provisions  of  the  Act  of  Union  were  these. 
The  two  kingdoms  to  be  henceforward  one: — ''the 
United  Kingdom  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland."  The 
Irish  representation  in  the  united  Parliament  to  be  one 
hundred  members  in  the  house  of  commons,  and  thirty- 
two  peers  (of  whom  four  were  to  be  spiritual  peers,  i.e. 
Protestant  bishops)  in  the  house  of  lords  :  the  twenty- 
eight  lay  peers  to  be  elected  by  all  the  Irish  peers,  and 
the  foui'  bishops  to  be  selected  in  rotation.  The  same 
regulations  as  to  trade  and  commerce  to  apply  to  all 


CHAP.  LXVII.]  THE  UNION.  477 

subjects  of  the  United  Kingdom.  The  Irish  Established 
Church  to  be  continued  for  ever,  and  to  be  united  with 
that  of  England.  Ireland  to  contribute  two-seven- 
teenths to  the  expenditure  of  the  United  Kingdom,  for 
twenty  years,  when  new  arrangements  would  be  made. 
Each  of  the  two  countries  to  retain  its  own  national 
debt  as  then  existing ;  but  all  f  utui^e  debts  contracted 
to  be  joint  debts. 

Thi'ee  years  after  the  Union  there  was  one  other 
attempt  at  insurrection,  which  however  was  confined  to 
Dublin.  Several  of  the  leaders  of  the  United  Irishmen 
were  at  this  time  in  Paris ;  and  as  they  had  some  reason 
to  expect  aid  from  JN'apoleon,  they  projected  a  general 
rising  in  Ireland.  One  of  their  body,  Robert  Emmet, 
a  gifted,  earnest,  noble-minded  young  man,  twenty -four 
years  of  age,  retuimed  to  Dublin  in  1802,  to  carry  out 
the  arrangements,  and  expended  his  whole  private 
fortime  in  secretly  manufacturing  pikes  and  other  arms. 

His  plan  was  to  attack  Dublin  Castle  and  the  Pigeon 
House  fort ;  and  he  had  intended  that  the  insuiTection 
should  take  place  in  August  1803,  by  which  time  he 
calculated  the  invasion  from  Erance  would  come  off ; 
but  an  accidental  exi)losion  in  one  of  his  depots  precipi- 
tated matters.  I^ews  came  in  that  the  military  were 
approaching ;   whereupon,  in  desperation, 

A.D.  1803  he  sallied  from  his  depot  in  Marshalsea- 
lane,  into  Thomas-street  and  towards  the 
castle,  with  about  100  men.  The  city  was  soon  in  an 
uproar ;  disorderly  crowds  gathered  in  the  streets, 
and  some  stragglers,  bent  on  mischief  and  beyond  all 
restraint,  began  outrages.  Meeting  the  chief  justice. 
Lord  Kil warden,  a  good  man  and  a  humane  judge,  they 
dragged  him  fi^om  his  coach  and  murdered  him.  When 
news  of  this  outrage  and  others  was  brought  to  Emmet, 


•178  A  child's  HISTOKY  OF  IKELAND.     [cHAP.  LXVIII. 

he  was  filled  with  horror,  and  attempted  in  vain  to 
qnell  the  mob.  Seeing  that  the  attempt  on  the  castle 
was  hopeless  he  fled  to  Kathfarnham,  and  might  have 
escaped :  but  he  insisted  on  remaining  to  take  leave  of 
Sarah  Curran,  daughter  of  John  Philpot  Curran,  to  whom 
he  was  secretly  engaged  to  be  married.  He  was  arrested 
by  Major  Sin'  on  the  25th  of  August  at  a  house  in 
Harold's  Cross ;  and  soon  after  was  tried  and  convicted, 
making  a  short  speech  of  great  power  in  the  dock.  On 
the  next  day,  the  20th  of  September  1803,  he  was 
hanged  in  Thomas-street. 


CHAPTER  LXYIIL 

CATHOLIC      EMANCIPATION. 

A   n    ifin^  1R9Q  ^  George  III.  (to  1820). 
A.D.  1803-1829. 1  ^jg^,j.|g  jy_  ^^g^^^^ 

F  the  Irish  Eoman  Catholics  had  actively 
opposed  the  Tlnion,  in  all  probability  it  could 
not  have  been  carried ;  for  as  Lord  Corn- 
wallis  afterwards  declared,  they  ''  had  it 
in  their  power  to  have  frustrated  the  views 
of  the  government  and  throw  the  country 
into  the  utmost  confusion."  Accordingly 
Pitt  had  at  first  intended  to  include  Catholic 
Emancipation  in  the  articles  of  Union;  an 
intention  afterwards  unhappily  abandoned.  But  in 
order  to  lessen  the  hostility  of  the  Catholics,  they  were 
led  to  believe,  by  the  leading  members  of  the  Irish 
government,  on  Pitt's  suggestion,  that  Emancipation 
would  immediately  follow  the  Union.     Through  these 


CHAP.  LXVIII.J        CATHOLIC  EMANCIPATION.  479 

representations  many  of  the  leading  Catholics,  both  lay 
and  ecclesiastical,  ^veve  induced  to  express  themselres 
in  favour  of  the  measure,  and  the  gi'cat  body  held  back 
fi'om  active  opposition.  Thus  the  Catholics  were  kept 
out  of  the  way  and  the  Union  was  carried.  And  now 
they  naturally  looked  for  the  fulfilment  of  the  promise ; 
but  they  looked  in  vain :  for  the  government  showed 
not  the  least  disposition  to  move  in  the  matter.  It  is 
known  that  on  the  appointment  of  Lord  Comwallis  as 
lord  lieutenant,  the  king  had  written  to  Pitt  to  say  that 
he  would  not  consent  to  Emancipation,  as  he  considered 
it  would  be  a  breach  of  his  coronation  oath :  and  this  is 
commonly  assigned  as  the  chief  reason  why  the  question 
was  di'opped.  There  is  scarce  a  doubt  however  that 
if  Pitt  had  been  earnest  in  the  matter  he  could  have 
brought  the  king  to  yield  :  but  he  never  made  any  real 
effort.  For  twenty -nine  years  Emancipation  was  with- 
held; and  when  it  came  at  last,  the  concession  was 
brought  about,  as  we  shall  see,  by  cu'cumstances  quite 
independent  of  representations  and  promises. 

The  Catholics,  however,  never  abandoned  their  hope ; 
and  a  few  years  after  the  Union  a  small  section  of  them, 
including  a  few  bishops,  agreed,  as  an  inducement  for 
the  government  to  gi'ant  Emancipation,  that  the  crown 
should  have  a  Veto  in  the  appointment  of  bishops :  that 
is  to  say,  when  a  person  had  been  selected  by  the  Irish 
ecclesiastical  authorities,  his  name  should  be  submitted 
to  the  king ;  and  if  the  king  objected  another  was  to  be 
chosen.  The  general  body  of  Catholics,  clergy  and 
people,  knew  nothing  of  all  this ;  but  the  matter  was 
made  public  when,  in  1808,  a  petition  for  Catholic 
Relief  was  presented  to  parliament  by  Grattan  and 
some  others,  who,  on  the  authority  of  two  leading  Irish 
Catholics,   openly  offered  to  accept  the  Veto  in  case 


480  A  child's  history  of  IRELAND.     [CHAP.  LXVIIJ. 

Emancipation  was  granted.  "Whereupon  the  clergy  and 
people  generally  repudiated  it :  the  bishops  formally 
condemned  it ;  and  besides  all  this,  the  government,  even 
with  this  offer  before  them,  refused  to  entertain  the 
petition.  ^Nevertheless  the  Yeto  question  continued  to  be 
discussed  in  Ireland  for  some  years,  and  caused  consi- 
derable divergence  of  opinion  among  Catholics ;  the  Irish 
aristocracy  were  generally  in  favour  of  it ;  but  those  who 
opposed  it,  led  by  O'Connell,  ultimately  prevailed. 

Soon  after  the  Union,  Grattan,  the  gi'eatest  and 
noblest  of  all  the  Protestant  advocates  of  Catholic  rights, 
entered  the  imperial  parliament,  and  never  lost  an 
opportunity  of  pleading  for  Emancipation.  Towards 
the  end  of  1819,  while  residing  at  Tinnehinch,  his 
health  rapidly  declined;  and  he  determined  to  make 
one  last  effort  for  his  Catholic  fellow-countrymen.  He 
set  out  for  the  house    of  commons,  but 

A.D.  1830  never  reached  it ;  and  he  died  in  London, 
speaking  of  Ireland  with  his  latest  breath. 

Dui'ing  the  later  years  of  Grattan' s  career,  another 
great  man  was  beginning  to  come  to  the  fi'ont,  before 
whose  genius  all  the  obstacles  to  Catholic  Emancipation 
ultimately  went  down.  Daniel  O'Connell,  afterwards 
familiarly  called  "  The  Liberator,"  was  born  at  Carhan 
beside  Cahersiveen  in  Kerry  on  the  6th  of  August  1775, 
and  was  educated  partly  in  Ireland  and  partly  in 
Erance.  He  was  called  to  the  bar  in  1798,  and  at  once 
made  his  mark  as  a  successful  advocate.  About  the 
year  1810  he  began  to  take  a  prominent  part  in  public 
questions,  and  before  long  became  the  acknowledged 
leader  of  the  Irish  Catholics.  Thenceforward,  till  the 
time  of  his  death,  he  was  the  chief  figure  in  Irish 
political  history,  and  was  one  of  the  greatest  popular 
leaders  the  world  ever  saw. 


CHAP.  LXYIII.]        CATHOLIC  EMANCIPATION. 


481 


It  may  be  said  that  O'Connell  founded  the  system  of 
peaceful,  persevering,  popular  agitation  against  political 
grievances — keeping  strictly  within  the  law.  In  all 
his  laboiu's,    and  more  especially  during  the  agitation 


Richard  Lalor  Shell.    From  portrait  in  National  Gallery,  Dublin. 


for  Emancipation,  he  was  ably  seconded  by  Richard 
Lalor  Shell,  who  was  almost  as  great  an  orator  as 
O'Connell  himself. 

2j 


482  A  cfitld's  history  of  Ireland,    [chap,  lxviii. 

The  old  Catliolic  Committee  had  gradiially  died  out ; 
and   O'Connell    and    Shell    founded    the 

A. D.  1823  "Catholic  Association,"  which  was  the 
principal  agency  that  ultimately  enabled 
them  to  achieve  Emancipation.  The  expenses  were  de- 
frayed chiefly  by  a  subscription  fi'om  the  people,  of  one 
penny  a  week,  which  was  called  "Catholic  rent"  :  and 
the  association  soon  spread  through  all  Ireland.  This 
movement,  of  which  O'Connell  and  Shell  were  the 
mainsprings  all  through,  was  the  means  of  spreading 
broadcast  a  free  press  and  of  creating  healthful  public 
opinion.  The  government  viewed  the  new  Association 
with  jealousy  and  alarm ;  and  an  act  of  parliament  was 
passed  in  1825  to  put  it  down;  but  O'Connell,  who 
took  gi'eat  care  never  to  have  the  law  broken,  contrived 
an  ingenious  plan  by  which  the  act  was  evaded ;  and 
the  association  went  on  as  before.  In  "VYaterford  and 
several  other  places,  by  means  of  the  perfect  organisa- 
tion of  this  association,  Protestant  members  favoui'able 
to  emancipation  were  retiuTied,  the  forty- shilling  free- 
holders voting  for  them ;  for  as  these  tenants  had  leases 
for  life  they  were  in  a  great  measui'e  independent  of  the 
landlords,  and  successfully  resisted  their  influence. 

An  oath  similar  to  that  framed  in  1692  (p.  381)  to 
exclude  Irish  Catholics  from  parliament,  was  at  this 
period,  and  had  been  for  a  long  time  previously,  in  force 
in  the  parliament  in  England ;  so  that  although  there 
was  nothing  to  prevent  a  Catholic  being  elected,  he 
could  not  enter  the  house  as  member,  since  no  Catholic 
could  take  this  oath.  It  had  been  recommended  by  the 
veteran  John  Keogh  (p.  447)  that  some  Catholic  should 
be  elected  member,  and  should  present  himself  at  West- 
minster and  be  excluded  by  the  oath ;  so  that  the 
absui'dity  and  haixiship  of  letting  a  constituency  remain 


CHAP.  LXVIII.]        CATHOLIC  EMANCIPATION.  483 

altogether  without  a  member  because  the  person  elected 
refused  to  take  an  oath  that  his  own  religion  was  false, 
should  be  brought  home  to  the  people  of  the  empire. 
Keogh  believed  that  this  would  lead  to  emancipation. 
A  vacancy  now  (1828)  occun-ed  in  Clare,  as  the  sitting 
member  Mr.  Vesey  Fitzgerald,  having  accepted  the 
office  of  president  of  the  Board  of  Trade,  had  to  seek 
re-election.  O'Connell  determined  to  oppose  him,  so  as 
'  to  bring  the  matter  to  a  test.  His  address  to  the  people 
of  Clare  aroused  extraordinary  enthusiasm,  and  not- 
withstanding the  utmost  efforts  of  the  landlords,  he  was 
returned  by  an  immense  majority. 

This  election  aroused  sympathy  everywhere  in  Eng- 
land for  the  Catholics,  so  that  the  government  were 
alaiTaed ;  and  they  became  still  more  so  when  they 
found  that  the  branches  of  the  association  were  prepar- 
ing to  return  Catholic  members  all  through  Ireland. 
Wellington  and  Peel,  forced  by  public  opinion,  gave 
way,  being  now  convinced  that  emancipation  could 
no  longer  be  withheld  with  safety.  Peel  introduced 
into  the  commons  a  bill  for  the  emancipation  of  the 
Catholics.  After  several  days'  stormy  debate  the  third 
reading  was  carried  on  the  30th  of  March.  The 
debate  in  the  lords  was  even  more  violent  than  in  the 
commons.  But  Wellington  ended  the  matter  by  de- 
claring that  they  should  choose  either  of  the  two  alter- 
natives, emancipation  or  civil  war.     The 

A.D.  1829  bill  passed  the  third  reading,  after  a  long 
debate  and  much  bitter  opposition,  and  re- 
ceived the  royal  assent  on  the  13th  of  April. 

After  the  bill  had  become  law  O'Connell  presented 

himself  at  the  bar  of  the  house  for  the  first  time  since 

his  election  to  claim  his  seat ;  knowing  well  what  would 

happen.     According  to  the  teims  of  the  Emancipation 

2i2 


484  A  child's  history  of  Ireland,    [chap,  lxviii. 

Act  it  was  only  those  elected  after  the  13th  of  April 
that  came  under  the  new  oath  :  a  clause  designedly- 
inserted  by  Peel  in  order  to  put  O'Connell  to  the  trouble 
and  expense  of  another  election.  The  old  oath  was  put 
into  his  hand ;  and  looking  at  it  for  a  few  seconds  he 
said : — "  I  see  here  one  assertion  as  to  a  matter  of  fact 
which  I  know  to  be  untrue  :  I  see  a  second  as  to  a 
matter  of  opinion  which  I  believe  to  be  untrue.  I 
therefore  refuse  to  take  this  oath"  :  after  which  he 
withdrew.  Another  writ  was  issued  for  Clare,  and  he 
was  returned  unopposed. 

By  this  Emancipation  Act  a  new  oath  was  fi'amed 
which  Catholics  might  take.  The  act  therefore  admit- 
ted Catholics  to  the  right  of  being  members  of  parlia- 
ment in  either  house.  It  admitted  them  also  to  all 
ci^-il  and  military  offices,  with  thi'ee  exceptions  :  — 
those  of  regent,  lord  lieutenant,  and  lord  chancellor.* 

The  act  contained  one  fatal  provision  which  O'Connell 
had  to  submit  to ;  it  raised  the  franchise  in  Ireland  to 
£10,  though  in  England  the  qualification  remained  at 
the  limit  of  forty  shillings  :  this  disfranchised  all  the 
forty- shilling  freehold  voters  (p.  448),  who  constituted 
the  main  strength  of  the  Catholic  party. 

Several  influences  had  been  for  years  at  work  to 
soften  the  feelings  of  England  towards  Irish  Roman 
Catholics,  so  as  to  prepare  the  way  for  Emancipation ; 
among  the  chief  of  which  were  the  wiitings  of  Thomas 
Moore.  Though  Grattan's  impassioned  pleading  had 
brought  the  claims  of  his  country  vividly  before  the 
English  house  of  commons,  Moore's" Irish  Melodies — 


*  The  restriction  regarding  the  last  of  these  three  oflSces  was 
removed  some  years  ago  by  act  of  parliament,  when  Lord 
O'Hagan,  a  Eoman  Catholic,  became  lord  chancellor  of  Ireland. 


CHAP.  LXVIII.]        CATHOLIC  EMANCIPATION. 


485 


beautiful  words  to  beautiful  music — were,  it  may  be 
said,  the  first  clear  gentle  voice  heard  across  the  sea 
directly  from  the  Irish  Catholics  themselves.  These 
songs  were  read  and  sung  with  delight  all  over  Eng- 
land, and  they  sank   deeply  into   the   hearts  of   the 


Thomas  Moore.     From  portrait  in  National  Gallery,  Dublin. 


English  people.  But  there  still  remained,  especially 
among  the  ruling  classes,  much  hostility,  and  a  wide- 
spread determination  to  resist  further  concession.  To 
O'Connell  is   due   the   credit    of   breaking   down   the 


486  A  child's  history  of  Ireland,     [chap,  lxix, 

opposition  of  Parliament,  and  of  caiTying  Emanci- 
pation ;  but  lie  was  faitlifully  and  ably  seconded  by 
Richard  Lalor  Sheil. 


CHAPTER  LXIX. 


/  George  IV.  (to  1830). 
A.D.  1829-1847.  \  WilUam  IV.  (1830-1837). 
( Victoria  (1837). 

FTER  Emancipation  the  way  was  opened  to 

other  reforms  beneficial  to  the  Catholics. 

Eor    many    years    previous    to   this,    the 

government   had   been   giving  money   to 

support  schools  for  elementary  education 

all    through   Ireland.      But   they   were    suitable    for 

Protestants  only:    Catholics  could  not  conscientiously 

attend    them,    as  they  would  have  to  be  present  at 

Protestant  religious  instruction,  while  no  provision  was 

made  to  give  them  instruction  in  their  own  religion. 

fTo  remedy  this  state  of  things  the  JN'ational  system  of 

education  was  established,  which  afforded 

A.D.  1831    means  of  education  to  all.  Catholics  and 

Protestants  alike.     Eor  this  pui-pose  it  had 

— as  it  has  still — two  main  rules  : — first,  pupils  of  all 

religious  denominations,  who  attended  a  school,  were  to 

be  taught  together  in  the  ordinary  school  course,  but  to 

receive  religious  instruction  separately :  second,  there 

was  to  be  no  interference  with  the  religious  principles 

of  any  child.      Erom  that  time  to  the  present  both  the 

number  of  schools  and  the  money  gi^s^n  by  government 

C.  to  support  them  have  gone  on  increasing. 

The  Catholic  peasantiy  were  still  called  on  to  pay 


CHAP.  LXIX.]     EMANCIPATION  TO  o'cONNELL's  DEATH.       487 

tithes,  and  they  continued  to  be  harassed  by  the  exac- 
tions of  tithe -proctors  and  others,  who,  if  the  money 
was  not  forthcoming,  seized  the  poor  people's  cows, 
fui'nitiu'e,  beds,  blankets,  kettles,  or  anything  else  they 
conld  lay  hands  on. 

At  last  about  1830  there  arose  a  general  movement 
against  the  payment  of  tithes  :  the  people  resisted  all 
thi'ough  the  south  of  Ireland ;  and  for  many  years  there 
was  a  "Tithe  war."  The  military  and  police  were  con- 
stantly called  out  to  support  the  collectors  in  making 
their  seiziu'cs :  and  almost  daily  there  were  conflicts, 
often  with  great  loss  of  life.  At  I^ewtownbany  in 
Wexford,  in  1831,  thu'teen  peasants  were  killed  by  the 
yeomamy  and  police;  in  1832,  eleven  policemen  and 
several  peasants  were  killed  in  a  tithe-conflict  at  Car- 
rickshock  near  Knocktopher  in  Kilkenny :  and  many 
other  such  fatal  encounters  took  place.  There  was 
determined  resistance  eveiywhere ;  and  the  cost  of 
collection  was  far  greater  than  the  amount  collected. 
Hundreds  of  Protestant  clergymen  received  little  or 
nothing  and  were  reduced  to  poverty;  and  to  relieve 
these  temporarily,  government  advanced  a  large  sum 
on  loan.  All  this  time  O'Connell,  seconded  by  Sheil, 
struggled  vainly  both  in  and  out  of  parliament  for 
the  total  abolition  of  tithes :  or  for  some  arrange- 
ment that  would  shift  the  bm-den  fi'om  the  shoulders 
of  the  tenants.  The  people  continued  to  resist,  and 
the  Tithe  war  went  on,  though  an  attempt  was  made 
to  stop  it  by  a  Coercion  act.  Some  years  later  (in 
1838),  the  tithes,  reduced  by  one-fourth  to  pay  the 
cost  of  collection,  were  put  on  the  landlords,  which  in 
a  great  measui'e  put  an  end  to  the  Tithe  war :  an 
arrangement  that  would  have  saved  endless  trouble 
and  much  bloodshed  if  it  had  been  adopted  earlier. 


488  A  child's  history  of  Ireland,    [chap.  lxix. 

In  1838,  the  Ecv.  Theobald  Mathew,  a  young  priest 
belonging  to  the  order  of  Capuchin  Priars,  joined  a 
temperance  society  that  had  been  started  in  Cork  by 
some  Protestant  gentlemen,  chiefly  Quakers.  He  took 
the  total  abstinence  pledge,  and  soon  became  the  lead- 
ing spirit  in  the  society.  From  that  time  forth  he 
devoted  himself  almost  exclusively  to  the  cause  of 
temperance,  going  all  through  Ireland,  preaching  to 
immense  congregations,  and  administering  the  total  ab- 
stinence pledge  to  vast  mmibers  of  people  of  all  religious 
denominations.  A  wonderful  change  soon  came  over 
the  country :  for  drunkenness  with  its  attendant  evils 
and  miseries  almost  disappeared.  The  good  effects 
were  long  felt,  and  are  to  some  extent  felt  still.  For 
though  the  evil  of  drink  has  in  a  great  measure  returned, 
it  is  not  nearly  so  general  as  formerly  ;  and  cbunkenness, 
which  before  Father  Mathew's  time  was  generally 
looked  upon  with  a  certain  degree  of  indulgence,  and 
by  some  was  considered  a  thing  to  boast  of,  is  now 
universally  regarded  as  discreditable. 

O'Connell  and  other  Irish  leaders  had  all  along  hoped 
to  have  the  Act  of  Union  repealed,  that  is,  to  get  back 
for  Ireland  Grattan's  parliament,  with  all  its  indepen- 
dence and  all  its  pri\ileges.  But  the  struggle  for 
Emanci]3ation  absorbed  so  much  of  theii'  energies  that 
for  about  thirty  years  after  the  Repeal  agitation  was 
started  in  1810,  it  was  earned  on  only  in  a  faint  sort 
of  way.  In  1840  it  was  vigorously  renewed,  when 
O'Connell  founded  the  Eepeal  Association  :  and  in  1843 
he  began  to  hold  great  public  meetings  in  favour'  of 
Repeal,  at  which  vast  numbers  of  the  people  attended, 
eager  to  support  the  movement  and  to  hear  his  magni- 
ficent addresses.  At  one  meeting  held  on  the  Hill  of 
Tara,  the  ancient  seat  of  the  Irish  kings,  it  was  com- 


CHAP.  LXIX.]     EMANCIPATION  TO  o'cONNELL's  DEATH.      489 

puted  that  a  quarter  of  a  million  of  people  were  present. 
About  thirty  of  these  meetings — "Monster  Meetings" 
as  they  came  to  be  called — were  held  during  1843.  At 
last  the  government  took  action,  and  **  proclaimed,"  i.  e. 


Daniel  O'Connell.     From  an  Engraving  in  National  Gallery,  Dublin: 
and  that  from  an  original  portrait. 

forbade,  the  meeting  that  was  arranged  to  be  held  at 
Clontarf  on  the  8th  October.  After  this  O'Connell  and 
several  others  were  arrested,  tried  and  convicted.  But 
when  they  had  spent  three  months  in  prison,  they  had 
to  be  released  in  September  1843 ;  because  the  house  of 
lords,  before  whom  O'Connell  brought  the  case,  decided 


490  A  child's  history  of  ikeland.    [chap.  lxix. 

that  the  trial  was  not  a  fair  one,  inasmuch  as  the  govern- 
ment had  selected  a  one-sided  jury.  It  may  be  said 
that  this  ended  the  agitation  for  Rejieal. 

In  those  days  almost  the  whole  population  of  Ireland 
subsisted  on  the  potato.  Eut  in  1845  and  1846  the 
potato  crop  failed,  and  there  was  a  great  famine,  the 
most  calamitous  the  country  had  ever  experienced.  In 
1846  and  1847  the  people  died  by  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  starvation  and  fever.  The  preventive  measures 
taken  by  government,  in  the  shape  of  public  works, 
were  quite  inadequate :  but  the  English  people  in- 
di-sddually  made  noble  efforts  to  save  the  star\dng 
peasantry ;  and  money  in  enormous  amounts  came 
pouring  in.  One  sad  featui'e  of  this  great  national 
catastrophe  was  that  in  each  of  those  two  years  Ireland 
produced  quite  enough  of  corn  to  feed  the  people  of  the 
whole  country ;  but  day  after  day  it  was  exported  in 
shiploads,  while  the  peasantry  were  dying  of  hunger. 
iS'otwithstanding  the  great  efforts  of  benevolent  indivi- 
duals and  associations,  one-foui'th  of  the  people  of  Ire- 
land died  of  famine  and  disease  during  1846  and  1847. 
So  tremendous  a  calamity  had  probably  never  been  ex- 
perienced by  any  other  country  of  Europe, 
p  After  O'Connell's  trial  and  conviction,  a  number  of 
the  younger  men  among  his  followers,  losing  faith  in  his 
method  of  peaceful  and  constitutional  agitation,  separa- 
ted from  him  and  formed  what  is  called  the  "Young 
Ireland  Party."  They  were  educated  men  of  the 
highest  character,  and  many  of  them  of  great  literary 
ability.  O'Connell's  various  organisations  from  the  veiy 
beginning  of  his  career,  had  been  almost  exclusively 
Catholic ;  but  the  Young  Ireland  party  included 
Catholics  and  Protestants ;  and  one  of  their  aims  was 
to  unite  the  whole  people  of  Ireland  of  all  religious 
denominations  in  one  great  organisation. 


CHAP.  LXIX.]    EMANCIPATION  TO  o'CONNELL's  DEATH.      491 

"  The  !N'ation"  newspaper  had  heen  founded  in  1842 
hy  Charles  Gavan  Duffy,  John  Elake  Dillon,  and  Thomas 
Davis ;  the  first  two  Catholics,  the  third  a  Protestant ; 
and  they  now  used  it  to  give  expression  to  their  views. 
It  was  very  ably  conducted,  its  pages  abounding  in  bril- 
liant writing,  both  prose  and  poetry :  of  which  a  large 
part  has  become  permanently  embodied  in  Irish  jS'ational 
Literature.  The  writers  were  much  less  guarded  than 
O'Connell ;  their  articles  tended  towards  revolutionary 
doctrines  ;  and  they  soon  came  in  conflict  with  the  law. 
Other  papers  with  similar  principles  and  objects  were 
founded,  with  writers  who  were  still  more  outspoken. 
Of  these  latter  the  most  conspicuous  for  his  brilliantly  " 
wi'itten  and  violent  articles,  was  John  Mitchel,  an 
Ulster  Unitarian,  who  openly  advocated  rebellion  and 
total  separation  from  England.  _j 

During  all  this  time  of  disruption  and  trouble  the 
whole  of  the  Catholic  clergy  and  the  great  body  of  the 
people,  forming  collectively  the  "  Old  Ireland  Party," 
stood  by  O'Connell.  The  secession  of  the  Young 
Irelanders  was  a  cause  of  gi'eat  grief  to  him ;  and  he 
denounced  them  with  unsparing  bitterness ;  for  he  fore- 
saw that  they  would  bring  trouble  on  themselves  and 
on  the  country ;  which  indeed  came  to  pass  soon  after 
his  death.  Yet  in  many  ways  this  brilliant  band  of 
young  men  exercised  great  influence  for  good,  which 
remained  after  the  trouble  and  the  trials  were  all  past 
and  gone,  and  which  remains  to  this  day.  They  in- 
fused new  life  and  energy  into  Irish  national  literature, 
spread  among  the  people  a  knowledge  of  Irish  history, 
Irish  music,  and  Irish  lore  of  all  kinds,  and  taught 
them  to  admire  what  was  good  and  noble  among  past 
generations  of  Irishmen  of  every  creed  and  party. 

In  1846,  O'Connell,  worn  out  by  labour  and  anxiety 


492 


A  child's  lllSTOKY  OK  IRELAND.      [CHAP.  LXIX. 


began  to  ilocline  in  health :  and  ho  suffered  intense 
anguish  of  mind  at  witnessing  the  calamities  of  the 
people  he  loved  so  well :  for  the  famine  was  at  this 
time  making  fearful  havoc  among  them.  In  the  follow- 
ing year  his  physicians,  hoping  that  change  of  air  and 
scene  might  benefit  or  restore  him,  advised  him  to  go  to 
_^  the  Continent.  He  set  out  on  a  journey  to  Rome,  partly 
devotional  and  partly  for  health ;  but  his  strength  failed 
on  the  way ;  and  he  died  at  Genoa  on  the  loth  May  1847, 
at  the  age  of  seventy-one.  In  accordance  with  his  latest 
wish,  his  heart  was  carried  to  Rome,  and  his  body  was 
brought  back  to  Ireland  and  buried  in  Glasnevin,  where 
a  stately  pillar-tower,  after  the  model  of  the  round 
,  towers  of  old,  now  marks  his  resting  place. 


'1 

^^l^tafi' 

IB^B^-^  \ 

H^^-^^^ ' 

.       'A 

W__w  .y  >  .k^ 

y^'^ 

^s^  if  ^BCl^P 

P_J^^P^- 

^-^•1 

^yi^ifl 

THF.     (TCmNNHLL     M.^NTMEXT,     GLASXEVIN. 

From  a  Pliotograph  by  W.  Lawrence,  Dublin. 


A  child's  history  of  IRELAND. 


493 


OuTtiNES  OF  Frontispiece.      For  Description  see  next  page. 


494  A  child's  iitstory  of  Ireland. 

Oil  the  ijrecediiig  page  is  given  the  outline  of  the 
Frontispiece  to  this  book,  the  illuminated  page  from 
the  liook  of  MacDurnan.  It  was  produced  by  first 
making — partly  with  the  aid  of  photography — an  en- 
larged copy  in  Indian  ink,  four  or  five  times  the  size  of 
the  original,  and  then  photographing  this  back  again 
to  the  proper  dimensions  as  here  given.  On  one  of  the 
photographic  black-and-white  copies  the  artist  put  in 
the  colours  ;  and  the  beautiful  and  faithful  copy  of  the 
original  page  thus  produced  was  multiplied  with  gi'eat 
accui'acy  by  the  chromo-lithographic  printers.  The 
result  is  seen  in  the  Frontispiece.  The  old  Irish  scribe 
had  no  photography  to  aid  him  :  he  designed  and  drew 
the  outline  to  the  proper  size  at  once,  and  afterwards 
illuminated  it.  When  we  remember  that  every  page 
of  his  Gospel  book  was  designed  and  illuminated  as 
elaborately  as  the  page  fonning  our  frontispiece,  each 
different  from  every  other,  we  can,  in  some  degree, 
appreciate  the  exquisite  skill,  invention,  and  taste  of 
the  artist,  and  the  amount  of  patient  labour  bestowed 
on  this  beautiful  book,  and  on  the  other  books  described 
at  pages  13  and  14. 


Latin  words  ivith  contractions  as  they  stand  in  the  page. 

Initium  A^angehi  dni  nri  ihu  chri  filii  di  sicut  scrip  '~  in 
esaia  pfeta  Ecce  mitto  anguelum  meum 

Latin  ivords  fully  written  out. 

Initium  AevangeUi  domini  nostri  ihesu  christi  fihi  dei  sicut 
scriptum  est  in  esaia  profeta  Ecce  mitto  anguelum  meum 

Translation. 
The  beginning  of  the  Gospel  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  Son 
of  God  as  it  is  written  in  Esaia  the  prophet  Behold  I  send  my 
angel 


Ornament  on  top  of  Devenish  Round  Tower.    From  Petrie's  "  Round  Towers,"  400. 


INDEX, 


[N.B. — T^e  numbers  in  parentheses  show  the  squares  on  map  in  which  the 
places  and  their  names  are  to  be  found.  Thus  Antrim,  (12),  itiill 
be  found  in  sqtiare  12.] 


Abbey  Knockmoy,  Galway,  42. 
Act  of  Explanation,  312. 

of  Renunciation,  434. 

of  Repeal,  432. 

of  Settlement,  311,  316,  325. 

of  Supremacy,  207,  212,  279. 

of  Uniformity,  212,  213,  279,  280, 

314- 
Adamnan,  St.,  80,  82  note. 
Adrian  IV.,  Pope,  130. 
Aed  Mac  Ainniire,  King,  79,  97,  98. 
Aedan,   king  of  the   Scottish   Dal- 

riada,  97. 
Aengus  mac  Natfree,  King,  75. 

the  Culdee,  91. 

Aha-Clee,  Dublin,  (36),  109. 
Aherlow,  Glen  of,  at  the  Galtys,  (50, 

51),  225,  268. 
Aidan,  founder  of  Lindisfarne,  93. 
Ailbe,  St.,  81  note. 
Ailech,  see  Greenan  Ely. 
Aill-na-Meeran,  at  Ushnagh,  (28),  58. 
Alban  or  Scotland,  63. 
Albinus,  84  note. 
Aldborough, 396. 
Aldfrid,  King,  in  Ireland,  90. 
Aldhelm,  Bishop,  90. 
Allen,  Archbishop,  196,  200. 
Alphabets,  ancient  Irish,  91. 
Alps,  the,  63. 
Araalgaid,  King,  75. 
Amator,  Bishop,  69. 
Amergin,  54. 

Amlaff,  the  Dane,  108,  109. 
Anglo-Irish  Lords,  chap,  xix.,  162, 

165. 
Anglo-Normans,  126,  127  note. 
Angus,  of  Scotland,  96. 
Animals,  wild,  4. 
Annals,  Irish,  10,  11. 


Annaly,  150,  note. 

Anne,  Queen,  384,  388. 

Annesley  case,  403. 

Anrad,  the  Dane,  115. 

Antrim,  (12),  151  note,  217,  229,  421, 

469. 
Aran  Island,  {32),  81  note. 
Ardagh  chalice,  15,  16. 
Ardee,  (23),  103,  122,  157,  160. 
Ardes  in  Down,  (12,  18),  229. 
Ardpatrick  in  Limerick,  (50),  268. 
Ard-ri,  the  over-king,  42,  120. 
Ardscull,  near  Athy,  (35,  40),  158. 
Arklow,  (41),  465,  468. 
Armagh,  (17),  71,  76,  92  note,  loi,  117, 

118,  126,   151    note,   239,    246,   250, 

280,  298,  299,  442. 
Arms  and  armour,  44,  45,  190. 
Art,  12  to  16,  94. 
Artaine,  near  Dublin,  200. 
Ashton,  Sir  Arthur,  304. 
Assaroe  waterfall,  at  Ballyshannon, 

(9,  10),  49,  245. 
Assemblies  or  Fairs,  see  Fes. 
Athenry,  (33),  battle  of,  159. 
Athlone,  (28,  34),  338,   347,  348,  365, 

367  to  371. 
Athy,  (40),  119. 
Aughrim,  (33),  270,  371  to  375. 


"Back  Lane  Parliament,"  447. 
Bagenal,  Mabel,  241. 

Sir  Henry,  241,  243,  246  to  249, 

Bagot  Rath,  near  Dublin,  302. 

Bagpipes,  18,  32. 

Baithen,St.Columba'scompanion,8o. 

Baker,  major,  323,  332. 

Ballaghboy,  253. 

Ballahoura  Mountains,  (50),  268. 


496 


iNDi;x. 


B.iUina,  (14),  152. 

Ballinasloo,  (33),  372. 

BalliiiIou<jli  in  Roscommon,  (27),  270 

Ball's  liri(lt;c,  Limerick,  356,  362, 

Balljbough  Bridge,  near  Dublin,  iii, 

"5- 
Ballyknockan    Fort   (Dinnrec),    (40, 

46),  20  note,  28,  59. 
Ballymote,  (15,  21),  259. 
Ballynahinch  in  Down,  (18),  470. 
Ballyneety,    near   Cullen,   (44),   350, 

352,  353, 354  note,  358. 
Ballysadare,  (15),  146. 
Ballyshannon  in  Donegal,  (9,  10),  49, 

239,  244,  245,  252. 
Ballyvourney  in  Cork,  (55),  268, 
Baltimore,  (59),  261,  262. 
Baltinglass,    (40),    James    Eustace, 

Viscount,  223. 
Bangor  in   Down,   (12),   82  note,  83 

note,  89,  92  note,  339, 
Bannockburn,  156. 
Bannow  in  Wexford,  (52),  132. 
Bantry,  (55,  59),  262,  266,  272. 
Bantry  Bay.  (58,  59),  459. 
Barber,  general,  470. 
Bards,  the,  98,  200.    See  Poets. 
Barnewell,  son  of  Lord  Trimblestone, 

244.  245- 
Baronets,  creation  of,  282. 
Barrington,  Sir  Jonah,  473. 
Barry,  John,  of  Buttevant,  268. 
Barrys,  the,  138,  163. 
Basilea,  Raymond's  wife,  140,  141. 
Baths  and  bathrooms,  19. 
Battle-axe,  44,  45,  113. 
Battleford  Bridge  at  Benburb,  299. 
Beare  Island  and  district,  (55,  58, 59), 

262,  263,  266,  272. 
Bears,  6. 

Bede,  Venerable,  quoted,  91,  96. 
Bedell,  bishop,  291. 
Bees,  25. 

Beeswax  used  for  light,  28. 
Begerin,  near  Wexford,  92  note. 
Belfast,  (12),  389,  421,  428,  444,  445, 

448. 
Bell  of  St.  Patrick  and  Shrine,  121. 
Bellanaboy,  see  Yellow  Ford. 
Bellanabriska,  242. 
Benburb,  (17),  217,  298  to  301. 
Ben-Edar  or  Howth,  (36),  50,  109. 
Benen  or  Benignus,  St.,  70. 
Beresford,  John,  452,  453,  454. 
Bermingham,  Richard,  159. 

Sir  John,  160,  163. 

Billings,  captain,  247. 

Bingham,  Sir  Richard,  244. 

Birds,  wild,  6. 

Bishop's  Gate,  Derry,  328. 

Bissetts,  the,  156. 

Black  Battery  in  Limerick  i^S^. 


Black  death,  the,  1C4. 
Black  rent,  164,  169,  178, 
Blackwater  in  Munster,  (50,  51,  57), 

139- 
Blackwater  in   Ulster,  (11,  17),  240, 

244,  298,  300. 
Blackwatertown,  (17),  241. 
Ijlenhcim,  380. 
Boars,  wild,  5. 
Jioats,  34. 

Bogs,  I,  2,  128,  173,  274. 
Boileau,  captain,  355,  361,  362. 
Boleyvogue  near  Ferns,  464. 
Bompart,  admiral,  470. 
Bond,  Oliver,  450,  462. 
Book  of  Armagh,  13, 156  (Headpiece). 

of  Ballymote,  10. 

of  Carrick,  181. 

of  Common  Prayer,  212. 

of  Duniry  or  Speckled  Book,  10. 

of  Durrow,  14. 

ofKells,  13,88,99, 

of  Lecan,  10. 

of  Lecan,  Yellow,  10. 

of  Leinster,  10,  31,  49,  57. 

of  Mac  Durnan,  Frontispiece,  13, 

14,  493,  494- 

of  the  Dun  Cow,  9,  39,  57. 

Borlase,  Sir  John,  289,  291,  292,  296. 
Borough,  Thomas,  lord,  244. 
Boroughs,  spurious  or  "  pocket,"  283, 

435,  474- 
Boru  or  Boruma,  tribute,  60,  64,  98, 

100. 
Boyle,  (21),  253. 
Boyne,  the  river,  (35,  29,  30),  41,  347. 

Battle  of,  chap.  L. 

View   of,  340. 

Bragganstown,  near  Ardee,  162. 
BrandufF,  King,  97,  98. 
"  Brass  money,"  James's,  325. 
Brefney  O'Rourke,  (15,  16,  22),  129. 
Brefney  or  Leitrim  Castle,  (22),  271. 
Brehon  and  Brehon  Law,  47,  61,  74, 

165,  168. 
Brendan,  St.,  of  Clonfert,  82  note. 
Brest,  459,  470. 
Brian  Boru,  62,  103  to  107,  chaps,  xv., 

xvi.,  125,  133,  177. 
Bribery  and    Corruption,    401,  412, 

414,  416,  428,  429,  435,  436,  437,  443, 

444,  473,  474,  490. 
Bridges,  33. 
Brigade,  the  Irish,  380. 
Brigit,  St.,  78,  88. 

Broder  the  Dane,  108,  no,  117,  ii8 
Brooke,  Sir  Calisthenes,  247,  250. 
Brown,  George,  archbishop,  206,  211 
Brown  Earl  of  Ulster,  the,  163,  166. 
Bruce,   Edward   and   Robert,  chap- 

xxii. 
Bruree,  (44),  21  note. 


INDEX. 


49' 


Bryan,  Francis,  228. 
Buckingham,  marquess  of,  443. 
Buckinghamshire,  lord,  424. 
Buildings,  18  to  22,  83,  84,  85. 
Bull  of  Adrian  IV.,  130. 
Burgh,  Walter  Hussey,  424,  429. 
Burial,  modes  of,  22,  64. 

mound,  24. 

Burke,  Edmund,  401,  412,  418,  419. 

first  earl  of  Clanrickard,  208. 

Mac  David,  270. 

"William,  103,  194. 

Burkes,  the,  138, 139.    See  De  Burgo. 
"  Burnt  Nial,"  Saga  of,  107  note,  114, 

118. 
Burrowes,  sheriff,  403. 
Butler,  captain,  329,  330. 
Butler,  Dr.  archbishop,  442. 

Mac  Richard,  181. 

Pierce    Roe,    earl   of  Ormond, 

194,  19s,  196. 

Sir  Edmund,  157,  158. 

the  hon.  Simon,  450. 

Butlers,  the,  138,  162,   178,  180,  194, 

i97>  253.    (See  Ormond,  earls  of.) 
Buttevant,  (50),  230,  268. 


Caheks  (forts),  21. 

Caher  in  Tipperary,    (51),    21    note, 

252,  253. 
Cain  Patrick,  Patrick's  Law,  74. 
Cairn,  24. 
Caldron,  27. 
Caledon,  (17),  299. 
Callan  in  Kilkenny,  (45),  176. 

near  Kenmare,  (55),  155. 

river  near  Armagh,  246,  248. 

Calpurn,  St.  Patrick's  father,  67. 

Camden,  lord,  454,  456. 

Camin,  St.,  8i. 

Camperdown,  battle  of,  461. 

Candles,  28. 

Cape  Clear  Island,  (59),  82  note. 

Carbery  in  Cork,  (59,  60),  272. 

Carbury  Castle,  (29,  35),  182. 

"  Carcasses,"  358,  367',  376. 

Carew,   Sir    George,   256,   259,   262, 

263,  264,  267,  272,  273. 
Carhan,  i  m.  E.  of  Cahersiveen,  480. 
Carlingford,  (24),  125,  304. 
Carlow,  (40),  150  note,  176,  187,  463. 
Carlus  the  Dane,  sword  of,  105. 
Carrickbyrne  Hill,  (46,52),  466,  467. 
Carrickfergus,  (12),  158,  159, 163,  291, 

298,  339,  340,  421. 
Carrickshock,  (45,  46),  487. 
Carriganass  Castle,  (55),  266,  267. 
Carrigroe  Hill,  (47),  466,  467. 
Carrthach  of  Lismore,  St.,  82  note. 
Carter,  Arthur,  222. 


Cashel  (a  fort),  21. 

in  Tipperary  (45),  21  note,   jb. 

92  note,  104,  123,  192,  259,  350. 

Castleblayney,  (17,  23),  289. 

Castledermot,  (40),  176. 

Castlehaven,  (59),  261,  262. 

Castlekelly,  in  Galway,  270. 

Castlekevin,(4i),  235. 

Castleknock,  near  Dublin,  159. 

Castlereagh,  lord,  473,  474,  475. 

Castletown  Fort,  near  Dundalk,  57. 

Cataldus  of  Tarentum,  St.,  83  note. 

Catholic  Association,  482,  483. 

Committee,  408,  445,  446,  482. 

Emancipation.  See  Emancipa- 
tion. 

Rent,  482. 

Cavalry,  44. 

Cavan,  (22),  151  note,  280,  298. 

Celestine,  Pope,  66,  69,  and  note. 

Chariots,  34,  71. 

Charlemont,  ^ii,  17),  289,  413  note. 

Charlemont,  James  Caulfield,  earl 
of,  422,  428,  430,  437,  438,  444. 

Charles  I.,  284,  285,  286,  287,  288, 
289,  293,  296,  297,  302,308. 

II.,  302,  303,  306,  311,  313,  314, 

315- 

Chess,  32,  108. 

Chichester,  Sir  Arthur,  151  note,  275, 
280,  281. 

Christchurch  Cathedral,  141,  185. 

Churches,  83,  85. 

Churchill,  John,  duke  of  Marl- 
borough, 365. 

Church-rate,  441. 

Ciaran  of  Clonmacnoise,  St.,  81  note, 

of  Ossory,  St.,  82  note. 

Cimbaeth,  King,  56. 

Clan,  the,  40.     See  Sept. 

Clandeboy,  or  Clannaboy,  (12),  229. 

Clanrickard,  (27,  s^),  earls  of,  163. 
208,  220. 

Clare,  (37,  38),  103,  151  note,  286,  308, 
483,  484.  _ 

Clare  election,  483. 

Clare,  lord.     See  Fitzgibbon. 

Clarence,  duke  of.     See  Lionel. 

Clarendon,  lord,  316. 

Clement,  84  note. 

Cletta,  King  Cormac's  cottage,  on 
S.  bank  of  Boyne,  between  Old- 
bridge  and  Siane,  (29),  61. 

Clifford,  a  Jacobite  officer,  376. 

Clifford,  Sir  Conyers,  244,  245,  253. 

Clogheen,  (51),  410. 

Cloghoughter  Cas.,  in  Lough  Ough- 
ter,  (22),  291,  305. 

Clonard,  (29),  81  note,  89,  90,  92  note. 

Clonfert,  (^i,  34),  82  note,  92  note, 

Clonmacnoise,  (34),  9,  81  note,  92 
note,  102,  126. 


2e: 


i98 


INDEX. 


Clonniel,(5i),  30=;,  306,  4"- 
Clontarf,  (36),  chaps,  xv.,  xvi.,  126, 

480. 
Clontibret,  (17),  243. 
Cockayne,  an  attorney,  451,  452. 
Cogans,  the,  138. 
Coiney,  43. 

Coleraine,  (7),  151  note,  298,  319. 
Collooney  Castle,  (15),  253. 
Cohnan,  of  Lindisfarne,  93. 
Colonies,  legendary,  49. 

to  Scotland,  63,  95,  96,  97. 

Colours  of  garments,  SS-     See  Dress. 
Columba,  or  Columkiiie.  St.,  78,  79, 

80,  82  note,  87,  93,  97,  98. 
Columbanus  of  Bobbio,  St.,  83  note. 
Comb,  30. 

Comgall  of  Bangor,  St.,  82  note. 
Commons  land,  47,  409. 
Conall  Gulban,  73. 
Conary  I.,  King,  56. 

IT.,  King,  61. 

Coneys,  captain,  247. 
Confederation  of  Kilkenny,  296. 
Confiscations,  227,    228,   229,   280  to 

283,  284,  286,  308, 382. 
Cong,  (26),  52. 
Cotigal  Claen,  99, 100. 
Connaught,  41,  51,  146,  147,  150  note, 

152,  286,  308,  457. 
Conn  the  Hundred-Fighter,  60,  96. 
Connla,  story  of,  39. 
Connor,  {S),  157. 
Conor  mac  Nessa,  King,  57. 

Mainmoy,  King,  146,  147. 

Convention  act,  449. 

Cooke,  Edward,  452,  453. 

Coote,  Sir  Charles,  292,  302  :  his  son 

(same  name),  306,  307. 
Cork,  (56),  103,  125, 139,  150  note,  186, 

259,  262,  272,  304,  365,  397,  410. 
Cormac  mac  Art,  King,  61,  96. 
Cornwallis,  lord,  429,  470,  473,   474, 

478,  479. 
Corrin,  the  Rev.  Father,  466. 
Cosby,  colottel,  247,  249. 
Costumes,  35,  42, 48,  99, 130, 137,  172, 

147,  175,  190,  278.    See  Dress. 
Counties,  formation  of,  150. 
Court  of  Claims,  312. 
Covenanters,  294. 
Coyne  and  Livery,  43,  164,  i58,  178, 

183,  188,  220. 
Craddock,  general,  457. 
Crannoge,  20. 

Crawford,  a  Scotchman,  245. 
Creagh,  David,  archbishop,  192, 
Credran,  (15),  154. 
Creeveroe  at  Emain,  (17),  56. 
Croagh  Patrick,  (20,  26),  75. 
Croft,  Sir  James,  215. 
Croghan,  palace  (21),  21  note,  64,  74. 


Crom  Cruach  the  idol,  37,  38,  55,  74. 
Cromer,  archbishop,  196,  200,  207. 
Cromlech,  23. 

Cromwell,  Oliver,  chap.  xlvi. 
Cromwell's   Fort  at   Limerick,   360, 

361, 362. 
Crook,  nearWaterford,  (52),  136, 149. 
Croom,  (44),  259. 
Cross  of  Cong,  15,  124,  126. 
Cuculainn,  56. 
CulK-n,  3SO,  351,  354  note. 
Culmore  Fort,  (6,  7),  257,  331,  336. 
Cunningliam,  col.,  322,  324. 
Curlieu  Hills,  (21),  146,  253,  271. 
Currach,  a  wicker  boat,  34,  269. 
Curragh  of  Kildare,  151. 
Curran,  John  Philpot,  437,  444,  451, 

471,  472,  478. 
Curran,  Sarah,  478. 
Curry,  Dr.  John,  407,  408. 
Cushendun  in  Antrim,  (8),  219, 
Cycles  of  Irish  Literature,  12. 


Dagobert,  King,  90. 

Dalaradia,  (8,  12,  18),  144. 

Dalcassians  or  Dalgas,  103,  no,  113. 

Dalriada,  (3,  7,  8),  96,  97. 

Danes  and  Danish  invasions,  9,  94, 

chaps,  xiv.,  xv.,  xvi.,  125. 
Dangan,  in  Meath,  301. 
Darcy,  an  Anglo-Irishman,  185. 
Dathi,  King,  62,  63. 
Davells,  Sir  Henr}-^,  222. 
Davis,  Thomas,  491. 
De  Burgo,  Richard,  Red  earl,  157. 

Brown  earl,  163,  166. 

William,     139,    141,    142,    152: 

another,  159. 

De  Burgos,  the,  138.  162,  163. 

Decies,  (51,  57),  no,  134. 

De  Cogan,  Miles,  134,  135,  140,  141. 

De  Courcy,  John,  136,  141,  chap.  xx. 

Dedannans,  the,  37,  52,  53,  54. 

Defenders,  442,  443,  45°,  457.  458- 

"  Degenerate  English,"  162. 

Degrees  in  Ancient  Irish  Schools,  92. 

Dela,  five  sons  of,  51. 

DeLacy,  Hugh,  136,  145. 

Hugh  (the  younger),  147,  151. 

De  Lacj's,  the,  156,  160. 

Del  Aguila,  Don  Juan,  259,  260,  261, 
262. 

De  ]\Iandeville,  Richard,  163. 

De  Quenci,  137. 

Dermot,  St.  Columba's  attendant,  80. 

Dermot  mac  Mailnamo,  King,  121. 

Derry  or  Londonderry,  (6),  79,  123, 
151  note,  257,  277,  280,  302,  303, 317 
to  338,  339,  353,  363,  389,  453- 

Dervorgilla,  129,  130. 


INDEX. 


499 


Desmond  or  South  Munster,  (48  to 
51  and  south),  51  note,  155,  272. 

earls  of,  138,  164,  196. 

the  rebel  earl,  chap,  xxxii.,  229. 

• Thomas,  the  Great  Earl  of,  181, 

182,  183. 
Devenish  Island,  (16),  Round  Tower, 

84,  240  (Headpiece). 
De  Winter,  admiral,  461. 
Diamond,  the,  in  Armagh,  4  m.  west 

of  Portadown,  (17),  457. 
Dicho,  69. 

Dillon,  John  Blake,  491. 
Dinnree,  palace  of,  (40,  46),  20  note, 

28,  59. 
Discoverers,  284. 
Dixon,  captain,  465,  466. 
Doctors,  Irish  Medical,  11. 
Docwra,  Sir  Henry,  257. 
Dolmens,  23. 
Domnat,  see  D3'mpna. 
Donall,  son  of  Aed,  King,  99. 

Steward  of  Mar,  112. 

Donegal,  151  note,  280,  294. 
Donogh,  King,  no,  119,  121. 
Donore,  near  Drogheda,  345. 
Donore,  near  Naas,  203. 
Douglas,      lieutenant-general,    342, 

343.  347,  348,  354, 367- 
Down,  151  note,  421,  442,  469. 
Downpatrick,  (18),  76,  92  note,  142, 

143,  147,  148,  154- 
Dowth,  53. 

Drapier's  Letters,  406. 
Drennan,  Dr.,  451. 
Dress,  28,  211,  216.    See  Costumes. 
Drogheda,   (30),   187,   302,   304,   340, 

344,  346.  . 

marquis  of,  410. 

Drowes,  river.  (9),  41. 

Druids  and  druidism,  35,  36,  54,  61, 

^71,  73,74,78. 

Drumcondra,  in,  241. 

Drumflugh,  near  Benburb,  244,  245. 

Drum-ketta,  (7),  97. 

Dublin,  (36),  loi,  105,  108,  109,  in, 
113,  125,  133,  135,  136,  137, 150  note, 
151  note,  159,  170,  200,  201,  233,  236, 
246,  280,288,  289,  291,  294,  301,  302, 
303,  321,  325,  346,  347,  385,  396,  438, 
442,  456,  463,  468,  475,  477. 

Dublin  Metropolitan  Police,  442. 

Dubthach,  the  poet,  73. 

Duffy.  Charles  Gavan,  491. 

Duhallow,  268. 

Duleek,(29,  30),  343,346. 

Dumbarton,  67. 

Dun,  a  king's  residence,  20. 

Dun-Aengus,  (32^,  22,  51. 

Dunanore,  (48),  224. 

Dunbolg,  (40),  98. 

Dunboy,  (58),  261,  262  to  265. 

...  2 


Duncan,  admiral,  461. 
Duncannon,  (52),  347. 
Dun-da-leth-glas,  76. 
Dundalgan,  near  Dundalk,  (23),  57. 
Dundalk,  (23,  24),  57,  157,  239,  251, 

302,  304,  340. 
Dundrum  Castle  in  Down,  (18),  143 
Dungannon,  (ii),  239,  241,  289,  43c. 

baron  of,  208,  214,  215. 

Dun  Keltair,  20  note. 
Dunlang,  king  of  Leinster,  75. 
Dunlavin,  20  note,  98,  106. 
Dunnalong  on  the  Foyle,  (6),  257. 
Durrow,  in  King's  Co.,  (34),  79,  145, 

146. 
Dursey  Island,  (58),  266. 
Duv-Gall,  the  Dane,  no. 
Duvgall's  Br.  at  Dublin,  in,  112, 114. 
Dwellings,  ancient,  18  to  22. 
Dyeing,  29. 

Dympna  or  Domnat,  St.,  83  note. 
Dysert-Aengus,  i  m.  west  of  Croom, 

(44),  88. 


Eber-Finn,  54. 
Edgecomb,  Sir  Richard,  185. 
Education  and  schools,  89  to  94,  125, 

392,  486. 
Edward  I.,  155,  166. 

IT,  156. 

III.,  leq,  166. 

IV.,  i8o\ 

■ VI.,  205,  211,  228. 

Elizabeth,  Queen,  212,  215,  225,  251, 

253. 
Elizabeth,   daughter  of   the   Brown 

earl  of  Ulster,  163,  166. 
Elk,  Irish,  5. 
Elliott,  Lieutenant,  466. 
Ely;  an  ancient  territory,  partly  in 

Tipperary     (Ely-O'Fogarty)     and 

partly  in  King's  Co.  (Ely-O'Car- 

roll),  (39),  176,  196. 
Emain  or  Emania,  (17),  20  and  note, 

56. 
Emancipation  of  Catholics,  385,  407, 

408,  415,  419,  420,_  431,  448,  452,  478. 
Embargo  on  provision  trade,  398,  417, 

418,  420,  423. 
Emigration,  389,  397,  411. 
Emly,  (44),  81  note,  92  note. 
Emmet,  Robert,  459,  477,  478- 

Thomas  Addis,  459. 

Endeus  or  Enna,  St.,  81  note. 

Enniscorthy,  (46),  464. 

Enniskillen,  {16),  239,  241,    242,  317, 

337,  338-  ,  .    , 

Ere,  son  of  Dego,  72  :  his  hermitage, 

71,  72. 
Eremon,  54,  55. 
Eric,  a  fine  for  personal  injury,  47. 

k2 


500 


ti:dex. 


Eric,  French  writer,  quoted,  03. 
Eskcr-Riada,  (seen  on  map  as  a  faint 

line  from  Guhvay  liay  by  Athenry 

to  Dublin,  through  squares  2^,  34, 

35,  36),  60. 
Essex,  Walter  Devereux,  earl  of,  220 
Devereux,  2nd  earl  of,  251  to  255, 

257- 
Ethnea  the  Fair,  74. 
Eustace,  James,  viscount  lialtinglass, 

223. 
Eva,  Dermot'sdaughter,  131, 135, 141. 


Fairies  or  S/iee,  37,  53,  74. 

Falkland,  lord,  284,  285. 

Famines,  226,  256,  257,  273,  308,  398, 

309,  490- 
Faughart,  (23,  24^  78,  160 
Fedelma  the  Ruddy,  74 
Fena  of  Erin,  the,  12,  61,  62. 
Fennel],  colonel,  306,  307. 
Ferdomnach  the  scribe,  13. 
Fergus  mac  Ere,  06,  97. 
Fermanagh,  151  note,  280. 
Ferns,  (46),  100,  132,  133,  135. 
Fes,  a  convention,  31,  44:    of  Tara, 

55;  of  Drum-ketta,  97. 
Finaghta  the  Festive,  King,  100. 
Finan,  of  Lindisfarne,  93. 
Finnen,  of  Clonard,  St.,  81  note,  89. 
Finn  mac  Cumail,  62. 
Firbolgs,  the,  50,  51,  52. 
Fire-worship,  38. 
Fitzgerald,   Garrett,   Great  earl    of 

Kildare,  184  to  186,  189,  192  to  194. 
Garrett  Oge,  9th  earl  of  Kildare, 

194,  195,  196,  197,  198,  199. 
Garrett,  nth  earl  of   Kildare, 

203,  204,  205. 

Gilbert,  126. 

James,  brother  of  the  rebel  ei.rl 

of  Desmond,  222,  223. 

James,  brother  of  9th  earl,  197. 

James  Fitzmaurice,  221,  222. 

■ -"John   of  Desmond,"  220,  221, 

222,  223. 

lord  Edward,  458,  459,  463. 

Maurice,  131,  132,  133,  138. 

another,  151,  153,  154. 

Fitzgerald,  Maurice,  ist  earl  of  Des- 
mond, 164. 

prime  sergeant,  473. 

Raymond  le  Gros,  134,  135,  139, 

140,  141,  142. 

Silken  Thomas,  chap,  xxviii. 

Vesey,  483. 

Fitzgeralds,  see  Geraldines. 

Fitzgibbon,  John  (lord  Clare),  429, 
437,  442,  443,  449,  453,  454,  474- 

Fitzstephen,  Robert,  131,  132,  133, 
141. 


Fitzwilliam,  earl,  452,  453,  454,  456. 

Sir  William,  234,  236  note,  241. 

Flann  of  Monasterboice,  92. 

Flei'twood,  Charles,  308. 

!•  K-ming,  captain,  247. 

iiiglit  of  the  Earls,  chap,  xli.,  2M0. 

Flood,  Henr}',  401  412,  413,  42;,  421, 

429,  430,  434,  436,  437,  438,  440. 
Foclut,  wood  of,  68. 
Foillan,  St.,  17,  82  note. 
Folkstone,  396. 
Foniorians,  the,  50. 
Fontaines,  83  note. 
Fontenoy,  380. 
Food,  25. 
Forestallers,  411. 
Forests,  i,  2,  128,  173,  274. 
Forra,  the,  at  Tara,  56. 
Fortresses,  ancient,  19  to  22. 
Forty-shilling  freeholders,  448,  482, 

484. 
Foster,  John,  speaker,  473. 
Fosterage,  33,  167. 
Four  INIasters,  the,  11,  226,  232,  237. 
Fox,  Charles  James,  432. 
Foxford  in  Ma)'o  (20,  21),  152. 
Foyle  river,  (6),  317. 
France  and  the  French,  26,  90,  93,  94, 

310,  321,  340,  344,  354,  355,  366,  378, 

421.  444,  449,  451,  459,  470,  477, 
Freehold  lease,  387,  420,  448. 
Fridolin  the  Traveller,  St.,  83  note. 
Fursa,  St.,  of  Peronne,  82  note. 


Gall,  St.,  of  St.  Gall,  83  note. 

Galloglasses,  44,  45,  127,  128,  155, 
216,  225. 

Galty  mountains,  (50,  51),  268. 

Galway,  (32),  150  note,  244,  307,  355, 
365,  375,  388,  431- 

Gardiner,  Luke  (lord  Mountjoy),  419, 
424,431,467. 

Gartan  in  Donegal,  79. 

Gaul,  63,  67,  69. 

Gavelkind,  47. 

Genoa,  492. 

George  II.,  384. 

III.,  417,  426,  429,  453,  454,  479. 

Geraldine  league,  first,  205,  207. 

second,  221. 

Geraldine  Rebellion,  chap,  xxxii. 

Geraldines,  the,  127  note,  131,  138, 
155,  162,  180,  184  ;  chap,  xxvii. ;  203, 
219,  251,  252.  See  Fitzgerald,  Des- 
mond, Kildare,  and  Leinster. 

Germain,  St.,  68. 

Gernons,  the,  163. 

Gertrude,  abbess,  17. 

Gheel  in  Belgium,  83  note. 

Giants'  graves,  24. 


rN^BEX. 


501 


Ginkle,  general,  354,  364,  367  to  378, 
380,  381. 

Giraldus  Carabrensis,  17,  87,  129, 
137,  I44. 

Glasnevin,  90,  92  note,  492. 

Glasslough,  (17),  298. 

Glenarm,  (8),  156. 

Glendalough,  (40,  41),  82  note,  92 
note,  129  (Headpiece),  135,  138 
(Headpiece),  184  (Headpiece),  191 
(Headpiece),  198  (Headpiece),  214 
(Headpiece),  227  (Headpiece),  235. 

Glengarriff,  (55),  266,  271. 

Glenmalure,  (40,  41),  224,  236,  237, 
238,  256. 

Glenmama,  (35,  40),  106. 

Glens  of  Antrim,  247. 

Glenshesk,  (4,  8),  218. 

Gloucester,  earl  of,  174,  175. 

Gods  and  goddesses,  Irish,  36,  37. 

Gold  and  gold  ornaments,  30,  55. 

Golden  Vale,  the,  268. 

Gorey,  (47),  465,  466,  467. 

Gormlaith,  Brian  Boru's  wife,  106, 
108. 

Gossipred,  33,  167 

Government  and  law,  40. 

Governors  of  Ireland,  137  note,  148. 

Grace,  Col.  Richard,  347,  348,  371. 

Graces,  the,  285,  2S8. 

Grattan,  Henry,  401,  402,  412,  413, 
423  to  434,  436,  437,  440.  443»  444> 

^452,  453,  461,  475,  480,  484. 

Greece,  49,  50,  52. 

Greek  writers  mention  Ireland,  65. 

Greenan  of  a  house,  19. 

Greenan-Ely,  (6),  20  note,  21. 

Grey,  lady  Elizabeth,  195,  203,  204. 

■ lord  Leonard,  202,  204,  207. 

lord,  of  Wilton,  223,  224,  225. 

Grogan,  Mr.,  of  Johnstown,  469. 

Grouchy,  general,  459. 

Guest-house  of  a  monastery,  86. 

Gunpowder  Act,  449. 


Hair,  fashion  of,  29,  30. 

Hamilton,  lieut.-gen.,  322,  324,  327, 

^328,  331,  333.  334,  336,  337,  343- 

Hardi,  general,  470. 

Harold  the  Dane,  106. 

H.irold's  Cross,  near  Dublin,  478. 

Harpers,  17,  32. 

Harte,  captain,  277. 

Harvey,  Bagenal,  466,  468,  469. 

Hasculf  MacTurkill,  133,  135. 

Hearts  of  Oak  and  Steel,  411. 

Heaven,  Pagan  Irish,  38. 

Hebrides,  the,  80.  109. 

Henry  II.,  19,  130,  131,  135,  136,  137, 

140,    T)I,    142.    145. 

—  ni.,  150, 151, 155. 


Henry  V.,  172,  177. 

VI.,  178. 

VII.,  184,  185,  186. 

Henry  VIII.,  194,  195,  197,  201,  203, 

206,  207,  208,  209,  210,  211. 
Higgins,  Francis,  463. 
High  Court  of  Justice,  308. 
Hoche,  general,  459. 
Hodnet,  lord  Philip,  163. 
Holycross,  145),  259. 
Holy  Island,  see  Inishcaltra. 
Honey,  6,  25, 
Horn  for  drinking,  26. 
Horse  riding,  34. 
Horse  soldiers,  44,  48,  99. 
Hospitals,  12. 
Houses,  18,  282. 
Howard,  earl  of  Surrey,  195. 
Howth,  (36),  50,  109. 
Hrafn  the  Red,  114. 
Humbert,  general,  470. 
Hutchinson,  Hely,  424,  429. 
Hy  Neill,  62,  95,  no. 


I  Brazil,  38. 

Ida  or  Ita,  St.,  82  note. 

Idols,  37,  38. 

Illann,  Prince,  75. 

Illumination  of  MSS.,  13. 

Inchiquin,  lord,  301,  302. 

Inisfail,  54. 

Inishcaltra,  (38),  81 

Inishcarra,  (56),  255,  256. 

Inishovven,  (2,  3,  6,  7),  281. 

Inishsamer  at  Ballyshannon,  49,  57 

Innishannon,  (56),  261. 

Insula  sancto7-uni  et  doctorum,  c2. 

Insurrection  Act,  459. 

Invasion,  Anglo-Norman,  94,  129. 

Inver-skena,  Kenmare  Bay,  (54),  5 

lona,  80,  82  note,  93,  97. 

Ireland,  names  of,  63,  65. 

Ireton,  general,  303,  306,  307,  308. 

Irish  Brigade,  the,  380. 

Island  Magee,  (8),  291, 

Island  of  saints  and  scholars,  92. 

Ivar  the  Dane,  104. 


Jackson,  Rev.  William,  451,  452. 
Jacobites,  317,  319,  320. 
James  I.,  270,  280,  283,  284. 
James  II.  (and  duke  of  York),   31 

316,  317,  321,  322,  323,  324,  325,  3.5 

340,  341,  347,  379- 
John,  King,  144,  145,  147,  149,  150. 

Scotus  Erigena,  84  note,  94. 

Johnson,  general,  467. 

Jones,  col.  Michael,  301,  302,  303. 

Paul,  421. 


502 


rN-DEX. 


Kavanagh,  Art,  234. 

Art  mac  Murrogh,  chap.  xxiv. 

Donali,  132,  136. 

Kavanai^h  Horn,  25. 
Keeper  Hill,  dS,  39),  349. 
Kellct,  captain,  406. 
Kells  in  Kilkenny,  (45,  46),  171. 
Kells  in  Meath,  (29),  79,  158. 
Kendal,  duchess  of,  405. 
Kcnmarc  Bay,  (54),  54. 
Keogh,  John,  447,  448,  482. 

Matthew,  469. 

Kern,  44,  45,  171,  247. 
Kerry,  150  note,  223,  226,  272. 
Kevin,  St.,  82  note. 
Kieran,  see  Ciaran. 
Kilbcggan,  437. 
Kilbreedy,  Kilbride,  78. 
Kilbrittain,  (60),  204. 
Kilcolman  castle,  (50),  230,  231. 
Kilcommedan  Hill,  371. 
Kilcormick  in  Wexford,  464. 
Kildare,  (35),  78,  150  note,  463. 

Curragh  of,  151, 

earls   of,    138,   244.     (See   Fitz- 
gerald, and  Leinster,  dukes  of.) 

War  of,  151. 

Kilfinnane,  (50),  20,  21  note. 
Kilian  of  Franconia,  St.,  83  note. 
Kilkenny,  (45,  46),  150  note,  167,  2(^6, 

298,  347.       ^     ^ 

Statute  of.    See  statute. 

Killala,  (14),  470, 
Killaloe,  (38),  107,  122,  349. 
Killeedy,  (44),  82  note. 
Killeigh,  (34),  179. 
Kilmacrenan,  (6),  277. 
Kilmainham,  near  Dublin,  (36),  109. 
Kilmallock,  (44),  84,  126. 
Kilmashogue,  battle  of,  103. 
Kiltaroe  castle.     See  Redwood. 
Kilwarden,  lord,  477. 
Kinard,  see  Caledon. 
Kincora  palace,  (38),  106,  108.  _ 
Kinel-Connel,  the  people  of  Tircon- 

nell,  154,  239,  259,  261. 
King  John's  Castle,  Limerick,  355, 

356. 
Kings,  and  election   of,   41,   42,  43, 

44- 
King's  Co.,  150  note. 
King's  Island  at  Limerick,  355,  357, 

360. 
"  Kings  with  Opposition,"  121. 
Kinsale,  (56),  256  to  261,  262,  321,  347, 

365. 
Kirke,  major-general,  331,  334,  336. 
Knockdoe,  {33),  193,  194. 
Knockmoy,  (27),  42. 
Knocknanuss,  (50),  301. 
Knockvicar,  (21,  22).  271. 
Knowth,  near  Drogheda,  53. 


Laegaire,  King,  22,  64,  70,  71,  73, 

Lagan  river,  near  Ardee,  254. 
Laitcn,  Brian's  attendant,  116,  117. 
Lake,  general,  459,  468,  469,  470. 
Lanibay  Island,  (30),  79,  101. 
Land  and  tenure,  46,  399,  415,  420. 
Landen,  battle  of,  380. 
Landlords,  408,  409,  482,  483. 
Lanesborough,  (28),  368. 
Lanyer,  Sir  John,  350,  352,  354  note. 
Larne,  (8),  125,  156, 
Lauzun,  general,  354,  355,  365. 
Law,  the  English,  150,  155,  165,  166, 

183,  188,  283. 
Leap  castle,  (39),  194. 
Lecale,  (18),  69. 
Legends,  the,  48,  57. 
Legislative  Independence,  426. 
Leinster,4i,5i,58, 59, 136, 284,308, 309. 

dukes  of,  138. 

first  duke  of,  407. 

second, 422, 424, 444, 458. 

Leitrim,  (22),  150  note,  271,  272. 
Leix,  (39,  40),  228,  257,  288. 
Lennox,  Great  Steward  of,  no, 
Leth-Conn  and  Leth-Mow,  61,  105. 
Levellers,  410. 
Leverous,  Thomas,  203. 
Lewy,  King,  95,  96. 
Liffey,theriver,(35,36),4, 109, 111,238. 
Light,  28. 
Limerick,  (44),  loi,  103,  104,  123,  125, 

140,  150  note,  159,  306,  346,  347,  348, 

349,  353, 354  to  365,  375  to  382,  388, 

410. 
Lindisfarne,  93. 
Linen  trade,  286,  396,  397. 
Lionel,  duke  of  Clarence,  166,  167. 
Lis,  a  fortified  dwelling,  19. 
Liscarroll,  268. 
Lismore,  (51),  82  note,  92  note,  123, 

126,  139,  253. 
Literature,  Irish,  8. 
Loftus,  general,  466. 
Londonderry,  151  note  (see  Derry). 
Longford,  150  note. 
Lome,  96. 
Lough  Beagh  (6),  154. 

Foyle,  (7),  252,  257,  331. 

Key,  (21),  271. 

Owel,  (28),  102. 

Ree,  (28),  lor,  147. 

Swilly,  (2,  6),  218,  276. 

Louis,  King,  321,  365. 
Louth,  150  note,  160. 
Lucas,  Charles,  401,  406,  414. 
Ludlow,  Edmund,  307 
Lundy,  governor,  320  to  324. 
Luttrell,  lord  Carhampton,  458. 
Luxeuil,  83  note. 
Lynch's  Knock  in  Meath,  301. 


INDEX. 


50' 


Mac  in  Irish  surnames,  55. 
Mac  Carthy,  Dermot,  140. 

Lady  Eleanor,  204,  205. 

MacCarthys,  155. 
M'Cracken,  Henry  Joy,  469. 
Mac  Dara's  Isl.,  (31,  32),  83,  84. 
Mac  David  Burke,  270. 
Mac  Davids,  thie,  138. 
MacDonnell,  earl  of  Antrim,  319. 
Mac  Donnells  of  Antrim,    215,    217, 

218,  219,  247,  248,  249. 
Mac  Dunlevy,  of  Ulidia,  143. 
MacEgan,  Donogh,  269. 
Mac  Egan,  the  brehon,  180. 
Mac  Geoghegan,  Richard,  262,  263, 

264,  265. 
Mac  Gilla  Patrick,  of  Ossory,  119. 

another,  133. 

Macha,  Queen,  56. 
Mac  Kenzie,  Rev.  John,  330. 
Mac  Mahon,  Bernard,  298,  300. 
Mac  Mahon,  Brian,  260. 
MacMahons    of    Oriell,     288,     289, 

363. 
MacMurrogh,  Dermot,  60,  129,  130, 

132,  133,  134,  135- 
MacNally,  Leonard,  451,  456. 
Mac  Neny,  Patrick,  298,  300. 
MacNevin,  Dr.  William  James,  459. 
Mac  Sweeny,  of  Rathraullan,  233. 
Mac  Williams,  the,  138,  163. 
Maengal  or  Marcellus,  17. 
Magennis  of  Iveagh,  186,  187,  288. 
Maguires   of  Fermanagh,    239,   241, 

242,  247,  248,  249,  288,  289. 
Mahon,  King,  103,  104,  105. 
Mailmora,  King,  105,  106,  108,  109, 

no,  118. 
Mailmurry  Mac  Kelleher,  9,  39. 
Malachi  I.,  102. 
II.,  103,  105,  106,  108,  no,  114, 

119,  120. 
Malbie,  captain  Henry,  270. 
Malone,  Anthony,  406. 
Man,  Isle  of,  63,  108,  421. 
Mannanan,  Mac  Lir,  37. 
Manuscripts,  Irish,  8  to  14,  62,  181. 
Mar,  Great  Steward  of,  no,  112. 
Margaret,  Lady,  of  Offaly,  179. 
Marisco,  Geoifrey,  151, 
Marshall,  Richard,  151. 
Marshall,  William,  151,  152. 
Martin,  St.,  of  Tours,  68. 
Mary,  Queen,  205,  212,  227,  228. 
Mary,  Queen  of  William  ill.,  316, 

379. 
Maryborough,  150  note. 
Mathew,  Rev.  Theobald,  488. 
Maumont,  gen.,  324,  327,  328. 
Maupas,  Sir  John,  160. 
Maynooth,  (29,  35),  201,  202,  455. 
Mayo,  150  note;  earls  of,  164.' 


Meath,  41,  58,  136,  145,  150  note,  151, 

202,  463. 

War  of,  151. 

Medical  MSS.,  11. 

Mellifont,  (23,  29),  130.  131,  239,  275. 

Mensal  land,  42,  58,  210. 

Metal  work,  14,  88. 

Mether,  26. 

Middlemen,  408,  411. 

Milcho,  St.  Patrick's  Master,  67. 

Miled  and  the  Milesians,  54. 

Mills,  27,  86,  88. 

Minerals,  mines,  3. 

Misach,  the,  232  (Headpiece). 

jMissionaries,  Irish,  8,  78,  93,  94. 

Mitchel,  John,  491. 

Mitchelburn,  captain,  332. 

Mochuda,  see  Carrthach. 

Mogh  Nuadhat,  see  Owen  More. 

Moira,  see  jMoyrath. 

Moira,  lord,  444. 

Moling,  St.,  100. 

Molyneux,  William,  400,  401, 402,  403. 

Monabraher,  at  Limerick,  (44),  194. 

JMonaghan,  (17),  151  note,  243. 

Monasterboice,  (23),  92  and  note,  126. 

Monasteries,  77  to  94,  loi. 

employments  of  inmates,  85  to  89. 

suppression  of,  86,  207. 

Monro,  general,  293,  294,  296  to  300. 

■  George,  298,  300. 

Montague,  captain,  247,  250. 
Moore,  Sir  Garrett,  239,  275,  276. 
Thomas,   17,  105,  107,  119,  484, 

485- 
Mortimer,  Roger,  158. 

Roger,  earl  of  JNIarch,  171. 

Moryson,Fynes,  240,253,257,  273,274. 
Mountjoy,  lord,   256,  257,   259,   260, 

273,  274,  291. 

lord,  see  Gardiner,  Luke. 

Mountmaurice,  Hervey,  139,  140. 

Movi,  St.,  of  Glasnevin,  90. 

Moy  Elta,  50. 

Moylan,  Dr.,  bishop,  447. 

Moylena,  61. 

Moy  Mell,  38,  39. 

jMoyrath  or  Moira,  (12),  100. 

Moy  Slecht,  see  Plain  of  Adoration. 

Moytirra,  (15,  21),  53. 

Moytura,  (26),  52,  53. 

MuUingar,  244. 

Mungret,  near  Limerick,  92  note. 

Munro,  Henry,  469,  470. 

Munster,  41,  51,  58,  226,  251,  255,  256, 

272,  292,  305,  308. 
Murkertagh  Mac  Ere,  King,  96. 
Murkertagh  of  the  Leather  Cloaks, 

103. 
Murphy,  Father  John,  464,  469. 

Father  Michael,  464,  468. 

Nicholas,  463. 


504 


INDEX. 


Murray,  Adam.  323,  324,  328. 
Miirrogli,  Hrian  Horu's  son,  108,  no, 
in,  113,  115,  116,  117,  118. 

the  Hurner,  see  Incliiquin. 

!Music,  Irish,  16,  93,  485. 
Mutiny  bill,  426,  427,  428,  431. 


Naas,  (3.s),  20  note,  75. 

Nanny  River  at  Duleek,  (29,  30),  343. 

Nation  Newspaper,  491. 

National  Education,  486. 

Navan  in  IMeath,  (29),  31. 

fort  or  ring,  see  Eraain. 

Ncedham,  general,  468. 
Nemed  and  the  Ncmcdians,  50. 
New  England,  314,  389,  397,  411. 
New  English,  and  Old  English,  162. 
Newgrange,  near  Oldbridge,  53. 
New  Ross,  (46),  170,  176,  467. 
Newrj',  (18),  144,  243,  289,  302,  304. 
Newtownbarry,  (46),  467,  487, 
Newtown  Butler,  (16),  337,  338. 
Niall  Glunduff,  King,  103,  133. 
Niall  of  the  Nine  Hostages,  62,  95. 
Norris,  Sir  John,  243,  244. 

Sir  Thomas,  243,  251. 

Northern  Whig  Club,  444,  445. 
Nuada  of  the  Silver  Hand,  52. 
Nugent,  general,  470, 


O,  in  Irish  surnames,  55. 
Oath,  Pagan  Irish,  38,  64. 

of  Allegiance,  379,  449. 

of  Supremacy,  207,  212,  279,  281. 

Parliamentary,  381,  385,  482,  483, 

484. 
O'Brazil,  38. 
O'Brien,  Dr.,  bishop,  306. 

Donall,  King,  140,  145,  146,  147. 

Manus,  350. 

Murkertagh,  King,  2,  122,  123. 

Turlogh,  King,  121. 

O'Briens,  of  Thomond,  103,  120,  170, 

193,  194,  202,  204,  208. 
O'Brien's  Bridge,  306. 
O'Byrne,  Fiach  mac  Hugh,  224,  236, 

237,  238. 
O'Carrolls  of  Ely,  176,  193,  194,  196. 
Ocha  (29),  battle  of,  95. 
O'Connell,  Daniel,  408,  480  to  492. 
O'Connolly,  Owen,  289. 
O'Connor,  Arthur,  459,  460. 
O'Conor,  Charles  of  Bellanagar,  407. 

Felim,  153.    Tomb  of,  153,  i55- 

another,  157,  158,  159. 

Roderick,    King,   55,   125,   130, 

133.  140,  145-  . 
Turlogh,  Kmg,  124,  130. 


O'Conors  of  Connaught,  120, 170, 253. 
of  Offaly,  or  O'Conors  Faly,  179, 

182,  196,  228. 
Octennial  liill,  414. 
O'Curry,  Eugene,  12. 
O'Dempsey  of  Offaly,  137. 
O'Doherty,  Sir  Cahir,  277,  281. 
O'Donncll,  Godfrey,  154. 
Hugh  Roe,  chap,  xxxiv.  241,  244, 

247,  248,  249,  253,  256,  257,  258,  259, 

261,  266,  274. 

Manus,  204. 

Kory,    earl   of  Tirconnell,    261, 

274,  275,  276,  277,  280. 

Sir  Hugh,  218,  232,  239. 

O'Donnells   of   Tirconnell,   the,    73, 

218,  229,  234. 
O'Donovan,  i)r.  John,  12. 
O'Doran  the  brehon,  177. 
O'Faelan,  Prince  of  Decies,  no 

'another,  134. 

O'Farrell,  col.  Richard,  299. 
Offaly,  comprising  parts  of  Kildare, 

Queen's  and  King's  Cos.,  (34,  35), 

137,  139,  196,  228. 
— —  barons  of,  138. 
O'Flynn,  Cumee,  of  Dalaradia,  144. 
O'Hagan,  lord,  484  note. 
O'Hagan,  Turlogh,  238. 
O'Hanlon,  186,  187. 
O'Hechan,  Mailisamac  Braddan,  16. 
O'Hogan,  "Galloping,"  350. 
O'Hoolahan,  Derraot,  269. 
O'Hyne  of  Connaught,  no. 
O'Kelly  of  Hy  Many,  no. 

another,  193. 

Oldbridge,  (29,  30),  340,  343,  344,  345. 

Old  Ireland  Party,  491. 

Olioll,  Prince,  75. 

Olioll  Molt,  King,  62,  95. 

Ollamh  Fodla,  King,  55. 

Ollave  or  doctor,  92,  93,  98. 

O'Loghlin,  Donall,  King,  121,  123. 

Murkertagh,  King,  124,  125. 

O'Moore,  Owney,  of  Leix,  257. 

Rory,  of  Leix^  288,  289,  293. 

O'Moores  of  Leix,  202,  228,  253,  321. 
O'Neill,  Art,  son  of  Shane,  236  to  23.S. 

Art,  brother  of  earl  Hugh,  243. 

Brian,  154. 

Brian,  (another),  229. 

col.  Felix,  369. 

Conn,  first  earl  of  Tyrone,  197, 

205,  208,  214,  215,  240. 

Cormac,  242. 

Donall,  156. 

Henry,  son  of  Shane,  236. 

Hugh,  earl  of  Tyrone,  177,  233, 

238,  239,  240  to  251,  252  to  260,  274, 

275,  276,  277,  280,  288,  301. 

Hugh,  Owen  Roe's  nephew,  305, 

306. 


INDEX. 


505 


O'Neill,  Matthew,  baron  of  Dungan- 

non,  208,  214,  215. 
Owen    Roe,   288,   294,  295,  296, 

297,  298,  299,  300,  301,  305. 

Shane,  chap.  xxxi.  228,  236. 

Sir  Neil,  342. 

Sir  Phelim,  288,    289,   290,   293, 

294,  308. 
O'Neills  of  Clannaboy,  229. 
of  Tyrone,   the,  and  branches, 

62,  120,  123,  170,  229. 
Orangemen,  457,  458,  460. 
Orde,  Thomas,  439. 
O'Reilly,  Mailmora  or  Myles,  250. 
O'Reillys  of  Brefney,  288. 
Ormond,  (45),  great  duke  of,  296,  301, 

302,  303,  304,  305,  314,  316. 

duke  of,  387. 

earls  of,  138,  194,  195,  196,  219, 

223.     See  Butler  and  Butlers. 
O'Ruarc,  Ternan,  129,  130. 

of  Brefney,  241,  271. 

Ossory,  (39,  45,  46),  82  note,  119,  133. 
O'Sullivan  Beare,  Donall,  262,  266  to 

272. 
Ota,  Turgesius's  queen,  102. 
O'Toole,  Felim,  235,  230,  238. 

St.  Laurence,  135,  136,  141 

Oulart  Hill,  (47),  464. 
Owen  Bel,  King,  22. 
Owen-More,  King,  60,  61. 


Paganism,  Irish,  35,  66,  68,  73,  78. 
Pale,  the,  164,  165,  169,  177,  178,  180, 

189,  190,  197,  200,  202,  203,  213,  292. 
Palladius,  66,  69  and  note. 
Parliament,  Irish,  186,  187,  189,  208, 

283,  285,  286,  325,  381,  384,  385,  394, 

396,  400,  401,  402,  403,  414,  415,  426 

to  440. 
Parliamentarians,  294,  296,  297,  301, 

303,  306,  307. 
Parliament  House,  Dublin,  476. 
Parmenius  the  Hermit,  63. 
Parnell,  Sir  John,  473,  475. 
Parsons,  Sir  William,  289,  291,  292, 

296. 
Parthalon  and  the  Parthalonians,  49. 
Pass  of  the  Plumes,  (40),  253. 
Patrick,  St.,  8,  64,  chaps,  ix.,  x.,  77, 

78. 
Patriots  or  Popular  Party,  402,  403, 

412,  414,  415,  416,  437,  443,  444. 
Paulett,  Sir  George,  277. 
Pearls,  3. 

Peel,  Sir  Robert,  483,  484. 
Peep-o'-day  Boys,  442,  443,  457. 
Pelham,  Sir  William,  222,  223,  225. 
Penal  Laws,  310,  382  to  393,  420,  431. 

See  Reformation. 
Pennyburn  Mill,  Derry,  328. 


Pension  List,  412,  414,  443. 
Penwork,  12,  13,  14,  88,  493,  494. 
Percy,  colonel,  247. 
Perrott,  Sir  John,  151  note,  232,  233, 

234- 
Phibsborough,  near  Dublin,  iii. 
Philip,  King  of  Spain,  261,  266. 
Philipstown,  150  note. 
Phoenicians  knew  Ireland,  65. 
PhcEnix  Park,  Dublin,  109. 
Physicians,  Irish,  11. 
Picts  of  Scotland  80,  93,  96. 
Picts  and  Scots,  the,  62. 
Pigeon  House  Fort,  477. 
Pilltown,  (51,52),  180. 
Pipers,  18,  32 
Pitt,  William,  439,  452,  453,  454,  472, 

473,  474,  478,  479- 
Plain  of  Adoration,  (16,  22),  37,  73. 
Plantation  of  Ulster,  279,  287,  457. 
Plantations,     the,    210,    221,    chap. 

xxxiii.,  257,   287,   308,  382,  399. 
Piatt  the  Dane,  112. 
Plebeian  Races,  58. 
Plunket,  Oliver,  archbishop,  315. 
Poets,  31,  98.     See  Bards. 
Pole,  Cardinal,  205. 
Police,  Dublin  Metropolitan,  442. 
Ponsonby,  Speaker,  424. 
Ponsonby,  George,  son  of  preceding, 

461. 
Portland,  (33,  34),  269. 
Portmore,  now  Blackwatertown  {17), 

241,  243,  244,  245,  246,  247,  250. 
Poynings,  Sir  Edward,  and  Poynings' 

Law,    chap,  xxvi.,   404,    414,    429, 

430,  432. 
Prendergast,  Maurice,  132. 
Preston,  colonel,  294,  296,  297,  301. 
Proctors,  see  Tithe-proctors. 
Protestant    Boys,    see    Peep-'o-day 

Boys. 
Provinces,  the  five,  41,  51  note,  58. 
Psalter  of  Cashel,  181. 
Psalter  of  Tara,  55. 
Ptolemy  describes  Ireland,  65. 
Purcell,  major-general,  302,  303. 
Puritans,  293. 


Queen's  Co..  150  note,  463. 
Quern,  28,  86. 


Raleigh,  Sir  Walter,  230. 

Ramillies,  380. 

Rapparees,  309,  349,  365,  366. 

Rath,  a  fortified  residence,  19. 

Rathangan  (35),  17Q. 

Rathcroghan,  see  Croghan. 

Rathfarnham,  478. 

Rathlin  Island,  (4),  156,  215,  229, 


506 


INDEX. 


Rathmines,  302. 
Rathmullan,  (0),  233,  276. 
Raymond  le  Gros,   see   Fitzgerald. 
Rebellions,  58,  157,  213,  214,  219,  234, 

240,  277,  282,  287,  462, 477. 
Recusants,  280,  285. 
Red  Branch  Knights,  the,  12,  56. 
Red  Earl  of  Ulster,  157. 
Redwood  or  Kiltaroe,  3  miles  north 

of  Lorrha,  (34,  39),  269. 
Reformation,  211,  212,  221,  244,  255. 
Reginald,  the  Dane,  134. 
Reginald's  Tower  in  Waterford,  134. 
Regium  Donum,  389. 
Religion  and  learning,  35,  77  to  94, 

125,  126. 
Repeal  agitation,  488,  489,  490. 
Reynolds,  Thomas,  462. 
Ri,  a  King,  41.  42. 
Riada  or  Reuda,  96. 
Richard  II.,  170  to  176. 
Rightboys,  441. 
Rindown  castle,  (27,  28),  147. 
Kinuccini,  the  nuncio,  297,  302. 
Roads,  33. 
Roches,  the,  163. 
Romans,  62,  63. 
Romantic  Literature,  12,  31. 
Roscommon,  150  note. 

Abbey,  153,  155. 

Rosen,  Marshal,  321,  332,  333,  334. 
Rosscarbery,  (59,  60),  92  note. 
Rossnaree,  near  Slane,  342,  343. 
Round  towers,  81,  84,  88,  492. 
Route,  the,  see  Dalriada. 
Rowan,  Hamilton,  450,  451. 
Royalists,  294,  302. 
Ryan,  captain,  463. 


Saga  of  Burnt  Nial,  107  note,  114, 

118. 
St.  David's  in  "Wales,  131. 
Saintfield,  near  Belfast,  469. 
St.  Gall  in  Switzerland,  17,  83  note. 
St.  John's  Gate,  Limerick,  306,  307, 

358,  361. 
St.  Ruth,  lieut.-gen.,  366,  367,  370, 
^  371,  372,  373,  374»  375-     ^ 
Samm,  the  first  of  November,  55. 
Sarsfield,  general  Patrick,  321,  338, 

346,  347  to  365,  366,  367,  370,  374, 

375.  378,  380,  383- 
Sarsfield's  Rock,  353. 
Saul  in  Down,  (18),  69,  76. 
Savages,  the,  163. 
Scandinavia,  109. 
Scattery  Island,  (43),  82  note. 
Schism  act,  389. 

Schomberg,  duke,  339,  340,  344,  347- 
Count,  his  son,  343. 


Schools,  principal  ancient  Irish,  92 

note.     .See  I'Mucation. 
Scotia,  a  name  for  Ireland,  63. 
Scotland,  62,  63,  95,  96,  109,  110,  156. 
Scots  or  Irish,  the,  62,  63,  91, 
Scottish  settlers  of  Antrim,  217,  218. 
Scribes,  Irish,  12,  87,  494. 
Scroope,  Sir  Stephen,  176. 
Scullabogue  house  and  barn,  467. 
Scythia,  50,  54. 
Segrave,  an  officer,  243. 
Senan  of  Scattery,  St.,  82  note. 
Senchus  Mor,  74. 
Sentleger,  Sir  Anthony,  208. 
St.  Leger,  Sir  William,  292. 
Sept,  the,  40,  41,  46,  47. 
Sept-land,  46,  47. 
Septennial  Bill,  414. 
Servitors,  281. 

Settlement,  Act  of,  311,  316,  325. 
Shannon,  the  riVer,  41,  259,  269,  347, 

355,  378. 
Sheares,  Henry  and  John,  463. 
Shee,  see  Fairies. 
Sheehy,  Father  Nicholas,  410,  411 
Shelburne,  earl  of,  432,  434. 
Shetland  Islands,  109. 
Sheil,  Richard  Lalor,48i, 482, 486, 487. 
Shoes,  29,  30. 

Sigurd,  earl  of  Orkney,  108,  no,  113 
Silvermines,  349. 
Simancas,  in  Spain,  261. 
Simnel,  Lambert,  184,  185. 
Singland,  beside  Limerick,  354. 
Sinnott,  David,  304. 
Sirr,  major,  463,  478. 
Sitric  of  the  Silken  Beard,  106,  108, 

no,  113,  115. 
"  Sixth  of  George  I.,"  404,  426,  432. 
Skean,  a  dagger,  45. 
Skeffington,   Sir  William,   196,   201, 

206. 
Skerret,  colonel,  468. 
Slan  [slaun],  the  name  of  a  well,  38. 
Slane,  (29),  71,  72,  275,  342,  344. 
Slaney,  river,  (40,  46,  Sec),  54. 
Slemish  mountain,  (8),  67. 
Slieve-an-ierin,  52. 
Slieve  Felim  mountains,  (44,  45),  259, 

349,  351' 
Slieve  Mary,  270. 
Sligo,  (15),  150  note,  338,  375. 
Smerwick,  {48),  224. 
Smith,  Sir  Thomas,  229. 
Smuggling,  397,  4i7; 
Sollohod,  see  Sulcoit. 
Spain  and  Spaniards,  49,  54,  222,  224, 

232,  258,  260,  261,  262,  310. 
Sparth  or  battleaxe,  45,  130,  137. 
Spear-heads,  53. 

Speckled  Book,  see  Book  of  Duniry 
Spenser,  Edmund,  128,  226,  230. 


INDEX. 


507 


Stafford,  captain,  304. 

Staigue  Fort,  in  Kerry,  21. 

Statute   of  Kilkenny,    chap,   xxiii.  ; 

169,  178, 183. 
Stokes,  Dr.  Whitley,  12. 
Stories,  see  Tales. 
Storytellers,  31. 
"  Stowe  Missal,"  14. 
StraflFord,  earl  of,  284  to  287,  395. 
Strongbow,  131,    134,    135,    136,    137, 

139,  140,  141. 
Stuarts,  the,  descent  of,  97. 
Suir,  the  river,  41. 
Sulcoit,  (44,  45),  battle  of,  104. 
Sun  and  moon  worship,  38. 
Supremacy,  see  Act  and  Oath  of. 
Sussex,  earl  of,  216,  217. 
Swan,  major,  462,  463. 
Sweyn  the  Dane,  118. 
Swift,  Jonathan,  401,  402,  404  to  406. 
Swilly,  river  and  lough.     See  Lough 

Swilly. 
Swimming,  a. 
Swords,  (30),  79. 
Sydney,  lord, 381,  382. 
Sydney,  Sir  Henry,  150  note,  220,  221, 

222,  223. 


Taaffe,  lord,  301. 

Tacitus  mentions  Ireland,  65. 

Tailltenn,  (29),  20  note,  31,  73. 

Tailors'  Hall,  Dublin,  447. 

Talbot,   colonel   Richard,  earl   and 

duke  of  Tirconnell,  315,  316,  317, 

318,  320,  321,  322,  325,  343,  346,  355, 

365,  366,  375- 
Talbot,  Sir  John,  lord  Fumival,  177. 
Talbots,  the,  178. 
Tales,  romantic,  12,  31,  57,  62. 
Tallaght,  (35,  36),  50. 
Tandy,  Napper,  444,  445. 
Tanist,  Tanistry,  43,  44,  210. 
Tara,  (29),  20  and  note,  42,  54,  55,  56, 

61,  64,  70,  71,  72,  97,  105,  464,  488. 

brooch, 15,  16. 

Taylor,  Thomas,  262,  264,  265. 
Teachers,  ancient  Irish,  16,  93,  94. 
Teeling,  Bartholomew,  470. 
Temperance  Movement,  488. 
Test  act,  388,  389,  420. 
Thomond,   or  North    Munster,   (37, 

43, 44,  45),  51  note,  103, 194,  203, 204. 
Thomond  Br.,  348,  349,  356,  376,  378. 
Three-Rock  mountain,  near  Dublin, 

234- 
Three  Rocks,  near  Wexford,  465. 
Thurles,  (45),  140. 
Thurot,  expedition  of,  421. 
Tigernmas,  King,  55. 
Tinnehinch, 433,  480. 
Tipperary,  150  note,  286,  410. 


Tiptoft,  John,  182,  183. 

Tirawley,  (14),  75. 

Tirconnell,  (5,  6,  9,  10),  a  territory 

including  nearly  the  whole  of  the 

present  co.  Donegal,  73,  146,  154, 

216,  218,  232. 
Tirconnell,  duke  of,  see  Talbot. 
Tirnanoge,  7,  38. 
Tithes   and  tithe-proctors,  409,  411, 

440,  441,  487. 
Titus  Gates  Plot,  315. 
Tlachtga  (29),  20  note,  31. 
Toberanierin,  (47),  467. 
Tolka,  river,  90,  11 1,  116. 
Tomar,  the  Dane,  collar  of,  105. 
Tomar's  Wood,  iii,  116. 
Tombs,  ancient  Irish,  22  to  24. 
Tone,  Matthew,  470. 
Theobald  Wolfe,  444,  445,  450, 

451,  457,  459,  470,  471,  472. 
Toome,  (11,  12),  274. 
Tories,  309. 
Torque,  31. 
Tory  Island,  (i),  79. 
Townshend,  lord,  414,  415,  416. 
Trade,  restrictions  on,  286,  394  to  399, 

402,  417,  419,  423,  424,  425,  430,438, 

439,  440,  475- 
Tralee,  (49),  222. 
Treaty  of  Limerick,   378,  379,    380, 

381,  383,  384,  385.  .  , 
Treaty  Stone,  Limerick,  378. 
Treda-na-Ree,  20,  21  note. 
Tribe,  the,  40,  41,  43,  44,  }6. 
Tribe  land,  46,  47,  133. 
Tribute  to  kings  and  chiefs,  42,  43,  60. 
Trim,  (29),  Castle,  146,  302,  304. 
Trinity  College,  Dublin,  8,  10,  13,  14, 

281,  402,  448,  449. 
Troy,  Dr.,  archbishop  of  Dublin,  442, 

447- 

Tuathal  the  Legitimate,  57  to  60. 

Tubberneering,  see  Toberanierin. 

Tullahoge,  (ii),  274. 

Turgesius  the  Dane,  loi,  102. 

Turlogh,  grandson  of  Brian,  no,  116. 

Turlogh  O'Brien,  king  121. 

Tyrone,  or  Tirowen,  (2,  3,  6,  7,  10), 
a  sub-kingdom  comprising  the  pre- 
sent counties  of  Tyrone  and  Derry, 
and  the  two  baronies  of  Inish- 
owen  and  Raphoe  in  Donegal, 
240,  241,  273. 

Co.,  151  note,  274,  280,  442. 

Tyrrell,  captain,  245. 

Tyrrell's  Pass,  (34,  35),  245. 


Ulidia,  the  territory  lying  east  of  the 
lower  Bann,  Lough  Neagh,  and 
the  Newry  river,  (3,  4,  8,  12,  18),  76, 
142,  143. 


508 


INDEX. 


Ulster,  6,  41,  51,  58,  95,  136,  142,  144, 
151  note,  156,  160,  215,  218,  228,  258, 
286,  290,  291,  294,  308,  316,  317,  460, 
469. 

Ultan,  St.,  17,  82  note. 

Undertakers,  227. 

Union,  the,  440,  472. 

Act  of,  described,  476. 

United  Irishmen,  412,  445,  456,  458, 
460,(61,464,477. 

Universities,  ancient  Irish,  92. 

Uraghree,  I'ass  of,  372,  373. 

Urns,  22,  23. 

Ushnagh,  (28),  20  note,  31,  40  note, 
59- 


Venables,  colonel,  306. 

Venice,  310. 

Veto,  the,  479,  480. 

Vinegar  Hill,  (46,  47),  462,  465,  467, 

468. 
Virgil   or  Virgilius    of  .Salsburg,    83 

note. 
Volunteers,  the,  417  to  425,  428,  430, 

431,  432,  436,  437,  438,  444. 


Wales,  63,  93. 

Walker,  Rev.  George,  323,  328,  330, 

332,  335,  337,  338,  344- 
Walpole,  colonel,  467. 
Walter,  John,  186. 
Warbeck,  Perkin,  186. 
War-cries  of  the  Irish,  188  and  note. 
War  of  the  Revolution,  317,  378. 
Ward,  Hill  of,  seeTlachtga. 
Warner,  Dr.,  291. 
Warren,  Sir  John  Borlase,  471. 
Wars,  Irish,  causes  of,  chap.  xxx. 
Wars  of  Kildare  and  Meath,  151. 
Wars  of  the  Roses,  180. 


"  Wars  of  the  Gaels  with  ti.c  Galls,*' 

107  note. 
Waterford,   (52),   loi,  103,   125,  134, 

139,  140,  144,  150  note,  170, 171,  185, 

305,  347,  358,  482. 
Waterside,  at  Derry,  320,  331. 
Wellington,  duke  of,  483. 
Well  worship,  38. 
Wentworth,  see  Strafford. 
Westmeath,  150  note. 
Westmoreland,  earl  of,  452. 
Wexford,  (53),  125,  131,  132,  133,  137, 

141,  142,  150  note,  304,  463,465,  469 
AVhig  Club,  444. 
Whiteboys,  410,  441. 
Wicklow,(4i),  150  note,  292,  463,  475 
William  II.  (Rufus),  2. 
HI.,  316,  317,  320, 321,  331,  339  to 

347,  348,  350,  354,  357,  358,  360,  361, 

362,  363,  364,  377,  378,  379,  381,  383, 

396. 
Williams,  captain,  2415,  246,  250. 
Wilmot,  Sir  Charles,  262,  266,  272. 
Windmill  Hill,  Derry,  329,  330. 
Wingfield,  Sir  Thomas,  247. 
Witherow,  an  author,  334  note. 
Wolsey,  cardinal,  194,  195,  196. 
Wolves,  Wolf-dogs,  4. 
Wood  and   Wood's  halfpence,   40.1, 

405,  406 
Woollen  trade,  286,  395,  396,  397,  300 
Wreckers,  see  Peep-o'-day  Boys. 
Wyse,  Mr.,  of  Waterford,  -107,  40S. 


Yellow  Ford,  (17),  245,  251,  301. 
Yellow  Pass  in  the  Curlieus  (21),  253 
Yelverton,  P,arry,  429,  437. 
York,  Richard,  duke  of,  179. 
Youghal,  (57),  154,  181,  223,  230,  305 
Young  Ireland  Party,  400,  491. 


THR  END. 


Date  Due 

m  -'I 

1592 

1 

' 

f) 

±  i  l^  i  o 


01213179  3 


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